Punk World Order
by Supersaiyaninfinitygohan
Summary: War is rampant throughout the world as two factions fight a never-ending battle and few things are what they seem. Can two unlikely heroes end it all? Set in a Cyberpunk/Steampunk world. Image property of Arcane Hurricane. (Chapter 1 & 2 redone)
1. First Mission

**A/N: Hi there! Name's Supersaiyaninfinitygohan, but you probably already knew that. What you probably didn't know is that due to... specific reasons, this (along with all my other fics) will most likely go slowly, if I'm even that lucky. But I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this can be done in a timely manner and stand up to quality!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or any related characters, artwork, merchandise, music, etc. All songs suggested go to their respected owners.**

**Claimer: I claim this plot and any OC's that may/do appear.**

* * *

**Punk World Order**

**Chapter 1**

**First Mission.**

Mobius: A world with technology far beyond that of most. Due to radical advancements in science cures to diseases were found, better homes were built for all and, most importantly, more powerful weapons were achieved.

With the leaps and bounds made in science, militaries soon got their hands on state of the art technology with some weapons capable of levelling mountains. There were disputes on witch type of technology was better, and which governments were more reliable.

The people soon broke into two main groups: the Steams and the Cybers. The Steams had technology based more on pneumatic and hydraulic force achieved with steam power and a government based on democracy whilst the Cybers had their technology based on absorbing energy from the surrounding energy and certain crystals and a government similar to communism.

The world territories were split in half, the Cybers getting one side and the Steams the other. But, certain resources were needed by both sides, and war was inevitable.

For many years, the forces clashed, many died, but the leaders only saw their errors when Enhancers were created. These small vials could increase any ability or trait, as well as add new ones such as increased strength, speed stamina and many others.

There was a downside however: the more boosters you had, the further your sanity went from you. Once the two different ruling parties saw what their subjects were doing to themselves, a cease fire was declared and the war ended, for a while...

When the cease fire was ordered, inside factions of both groups took control of the nations with Dr. Ivo Robotnik taking over the Steams and Dr. Alexander May taking over the Cybers.

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Now, a lone golden-furred, two-tailed fox lies on a hill overlooking a district of warehouses, his body shrouded in darkness as he looks out for any Neutral guards.

Neutrals: They were the greediest bunch of people on the planet, deciding not to chose sides of the conflict but rather make a profit by supplying both sides and making use of both Steam and Cyber technology. Now the war with new leaders raged on, and they were making huge profits.

Part of these profits were rations enough to feed either sides' resistance for weeks, hence the kit's presence.

Tails looked through his night vision goggles searching for any guards around the warehouse. The ten-year-old kit was wearing an open, sleeveless, brown, jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans with two holes for his namesakes, black, fingerless gloves, black boots and green goggles.

Slung on his back was a katana of his own design with a black hilt and brown sash which had several pockets on the front.

Being only the tender age of ten, this was the young fox's first field mission unsupervised. Normally, this would have been unheard of for anybody else his age, most of them still in training, but being the fast learner he was and a twisting of Aunt Sally's ear, he had finally landed this mission!

After making sure there were no guards on the outside, Tails assumed they were all inside the warehouse itself, the walls being too thick for his goggles to see through.

After moving the multipurpose eyewear onto his forehead, the fox slid down the hill quietly and silently moved towards the side door, which was illuminated by a single, old, yellow light.

Tails tiptoed to the door, pressed his back on the wall and retrieved some explosive pellets from a pocket on his sheath. After taking in a deep breath, the kit was about to throw the explosives when a blue blur swept by him, relieving him of his pellets.

The kit was spun around a few times before he stabled his body and found himself looking at what appeared to be a hedgehog in armour throwing his pellets up and down in one hand with one hand.

Said hedgehog's armour was sleek and aerodynamic in design with shape for his quills. The armour seemed to be made of a lightweight, smooth plastic material and was black in colour with dark neon blue, thick, oval-like lines on his forearms and from his knees to his ankles as well as a large patch on his torso and helmet.

The helmet somehow managed to slide away, revealing the face of a fifteen-year-old, cobalt blue hedgehog, smirking at Tails and suddenly threw the pellets back to him, the kit quickly catching them all to avoid an explosion.

"Ya know kid, normally you want to make a quiet entrance in these situations. So I think bombs just might give away your position." Said the hedgehog with a clever smile as he leaned on the wall with his arms crossed.

"And who are you to be interrupting my mission?" The fox asked somewhat rudely as he put the bombs back, not happy with the 'kid' comment.

"Me? I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! Fastest thing alive! Surely you've heard of me." The hedgehog said, striking a pose that consisted of his trademark grin and thumbs up.

Sonic usually received praise or at least a gasp from children when they heard his name but all Tails did was fold his arms with a, "Yeah, I've heard of you." Followed by the sound of crickets and a tumbleweed blowing by.

After a long pause, Sonic dropped his pose and took a good look at the fox. The fact of two tails stunned him at first, but got over it as the hero had seen weirder. What did strike him though was the kid's outfit, a clear indication of his loyalties.

Although both Cyber Resistance and Steam Resistance had about the same problem, neither side would help the other, a bit of hate from the war.

But still, to Sonic, this was just some inexperienced kid who was in way over his head, probably went rogue from the resistance and trying to prove himself, meaning the hedgehog had no intention of hurting him so he decided to try an act.

"I'm from command, they sent me here to relieve you and take over the mission. Far too high priority for a rookie like you." The cobalt warrior said with a serious voice, and not saying the thoughts about Tails being a rogue for fear that he might be wrong.

"Oh really? Then what's with the fancy Cyber gear?" The fox asked raising an eyebrow, catching Sonic off guard.

"I... um... it was raided from a warehouse like this one. It's a prototype and they wanted me to test it out."

"Then what's my name? Surely you would be alerted to the name of the person you were to relieve." The fox said, pressing further.

"It's... um... well we don't have time for this! Orders are orders!" Sonic said sternly, trying to change the subject and get the kid away so he could do his business.

Tails slumped and sniffled, "I'm sorry. It's just, this was supposed to be my first solo mission... and... and now..." Tails' words became filled with sadness as the fox choked up. Sonic, feeling sympathetic for the cub, made his way behind Tails and patted him on the back sympathetically, thinking that if the kit fell for this, he certainly wouldn't make it in the real battles.

Sonic was proven wrong however when Tails smirked and shoved his elbow into Sonic's gut and with the armour not being ready for battle, the attack knocked the wind out of the hedgehog and was followed by having his arm grabbed and then being flung over the fox's back and onto the ground, then found a katana near his throat and a foot on his chest.

"Did you really think I fell for that? From now on, I suggest the 'Sad Kid' routine. Always works for me." The kit somewhat bragged.

Sonic coughed a little and smirked, "What gave me away?"

"Besides the armour it was your name. Like I said, I've heard of you, and am just letting you know that I am no average ten-year-old."

"Kid..." started Sonic but was abruptly cut off.

"Name's Tails, if you don't mind." Said fox somewhat demanded

"Fine. Tails, a little suggestion: don't get cocky because of a lucky hit." Sonic then rammed his foot into Tails' face and jumped up as the kit stumbled backwards, getting into a battle stance.

"I don't want to hurt you Tails. All I want is some food for our old and some medicine for our sick." The hero spoke hoping to not fight.

The fox got into his own stance and held the sword in front of him, "Same here. And I'm not gonna step down just because _you're _getting cocky."

Sonic sighed and his helmet came back on, "If we have to do it the hard way, we have to do it the hard way." With that, the lines on Sonic's armour brightened and then formed into blue energy swords.

Normally, this would send most running if they had a mere sword but Tails had no mere katana. The kit pushed a button on the hilt and the front of the blade became a neon orange colour.

"Not bad." Complimented Sonic as he got into a running position, a HUD activated on his armor and beginning scans of his opponent.

"Thanks, made it myself." Tails responded and stood in a fighting position, his senses coming alive as adrenaline pumped into his system.

The two freedom fighters stood opposite one another as a breeze blew by. Suddenly, Sonic lunged forward, leaving behind a black and blue streak.

The three laser blades connected hard and a vibrating noise could be heard as each tried to push the other back as sparks came off of the weapons.

Tails quickly gave a shove and then began to slice and strike, putting Sonic on the defensive. The hedgehog had to move both blades simultaneously to block as the fox made a slash towards his head, yet the hedgehog was able to push back with one arm making Tails lose his balance.

The young fighter however made a bold move as he spun on the spot and then managed a hit on Sonic's arm, yet the armour blocked the attack so no actual damage was done. Deciding not to waste his advantage the kit planted his knee in Sonic's gut yet again and the hero clutched his stomach momentarily.

The kit was surprised when Sonic made a quick recovery and moved to attack, said hedgehog doing so by pushing with only one blade, making Tails block and leaving him open for Sonic's other arm.

The speed demon took advantage of this by aiming a punch at the kit's head, narrowly missing when Tails moved his head to the side but the hero pressed on and was able to scratch Tails' cheek as he pulled back his lazer sword in a smooth, quick motion.

Sonic then felt a knee go into his stomach yet again! Though the armour was fairly resistant, it only moved power to places where necessary during combat, and it had been wonky lately.

Sonic doubled over as he stepped back, "Okay, I'll admit that you're good." The hedgehog then extended his arms and opened his palms, revealing small, cobalt blue dots.

After a short charging period, the armour fired two blasts of blue energy in the form of orbs at the cub.

In response, Tails changed his footing and made two large, hard strikes with his sword, sending out orange, crescent-shaped beams of energy and the two attacks cancelled each other out.

"Okay, you're very good..." Sonic suddenly curled into ball form and started spinning on the spot. The armoured fighter suddenly launched forward with insane speed, catching Tails off guard and allowing him to land a clean hit to the stomach.

The fox was sent backwards and landed on his back, feeling as though he had been hit by a truck. Yet, he slowly came back onto one knee, panting and a nose bleed visible, surprised that his foe knew that same move.

"...But I'm better." Bragged Sonic as the unshaken fox stood back up and gripped his sword hard, ready for more.

"Mind if we finish this? Sally is expecting me back soon." Tails spoke with a little urgency in his voice.

"What? Is she your girlfriend?" Sonic teased, making Tails put on a repulsed face.

"Bleh! Heck no! She's like an aunt to me!" Exclaimed the ten-year-old, almost gagging in response.

"Relax, I was just teasin." Sonic's HUD scanned over Tails and displayed several weak points. His blades reactivated and Sonic lunged forward. The two re-entered into battle, both seemingly matched in swordsmanship.

What happened next was a surprise: both had the same idea at the same time and they simultaneously grabbed the other, entering a wrestling match on the ground and throwing a cloud of dust up as the world became a blur to the tumbling duo.

During the rolling in the dirt there were lots of grunts of effort, kicking, punching (many of them cheap shots) and a bite or two from Tails' side. As they scuffled, they began to move towards the door and Sonic's mask deactivated thanks to wanting to get some air, something the suit currently lacked.

The two stood up and as a reaction, Sonic bashed Tails' head against the door with his shoulder.

"Ow!" Tails then used the hilt of his katana to do the same to Sonic.

"Hey!" The two took turns bashing the others heads against the metal door before they finally did it simultaneously, and as luck would have it, the door opened at that moment, a guard wanting to see what all the commotion was about.

The fox and hedgehog both fell in and looked up to see guards in white cloaks, all carrying weapons and looking down at them.

The pair smiled at them and a much larger one in a red cloak lumbered towards them. Sonic and Tails, seemingly in a hugging position, smiled up at him. The leader snapped his fingers, and all went black for the duo.

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**A/N: Tada! That's chapter one done! Please review!**


	2. Teamwork

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any related characters, themes and/or merchandise. All songs suggested go to their respected owners.**

**Claimer: I claim this plot and any original characters that may/do appear.**

**Chapter 2**

**Teamwork**

Tails saw nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing. His realm of unconsciousness was all darkness. The fox was not scared or frustrated by it, he was barely even aware of it. The last thing he remembered was being hit over the head, then it was al blank.

The kitsune then heard something as his ears awakened, _"I'm telling you, they're not real." _Said a distant voice with a gruff tone.

"_Bet you ten bucks they are." _Spoke another, slightly higher voice with confidence.

"_Fine, only one way to find out." _Again, the first voice spoke certain that he would win the small bet.

Tails slowly opened his eyes with a groan as his pupils were flooded with light, making everything blurry and fuzzy. The fox yelped awake as his left tail was given a hard tug, then his right received its own tug, resulting in another yelp of surprise and pain.

As Tails became aware of his surroundings he looked at the person who had been the instigator of pain: a regular sized Mobian wearing a white cloak, grey cloak-like armour and a grey metal mask with a blue, neon cross shape on it and was carrying a lance with a triangle shape on the top.

"Told ya." Said another Mobian behind the tail-grabber, wearing the same outfit and with obvious joy in his voice.

The first man walked away disappointed with his head down, and headed towards the door, "Well, I'm not going to pay you." He declared plainly.

"What? I would've paid you if you won!" The second guard said as he followed him out the door with a small hurry in his step.

"Well whose problem is that? Mine or yours?" The crook pointed out as the large door was closed by the other minion.

This argument continued for a short while as they walked down the halls and when their voices were gone, Tails took a chance to look around the cell: it was about the size of two bedrooms and the walls and floors were a pale yellow metal, with rectangular barred windows high up letting in sunlight. The walls seemed to be lined with shackles and various red marks and a faint humming noise could be heard in the background.

The fox himself was tied up above the floor with metal shackles on his ankles and wrists, keeping his arms and legs apart. At this moment the kit found out his weapons had been confiscated, lowering his demeanor.

Tails growled in annoyance at his situation, "Well isn't that just f"

"Whoa now kid! No need to say anything like that!" Said a familiar voice not too far away.

Tails looked over to his left to see Sonic in the same position as him on the left wall, but his armor was gone revealing a grey, slim bodysuit with metal plates and black sleeves and pants, seemingly being what he wore under his armor.

"What? I was just gonna say freakin great. What did you think I was gonna say?" Inquired the oblivious Tails as Sonic blushed in realization.

"Oh... nothing." The hero replied with a slightly higher pitched voice.

Tails could easily see that Sonic was lying to him, but chose to drop it as he had a question in mind, "Where are we?"

The hedgehog shrugged, "I only woke up about five minutes ago, tried asking Tweedle-Dim and Tweedle-Dumb out there, but they just said, "We're the ones asking the questions!"" Sonic saying the quote with a goofy face and silly voice, electing a laugh from Tails, somehow making the hedgehog feel a little happy.

"So, we finally see the childish side of you huh?" said hedgehog spoke with a grin and a knowing look.

Tails sighed slightly at the statement, "I'm just tired of everyone treating me like a kid."

"But you are. Nothing wrong with that." Sonic spoke reassuringly.

"Easy for you to say." the fox had his head low whilst he spoke, "I'm better than everyone back at base, heck most kids my age are still in basic training. But nobody will give me any respect. I made all my own weapons and techniques, I volunteer for every mission, and my first one unsupervised, I get caught." The kit finishing with a depressed tone in his voice.

Sonic suddenly felt bad for Tails, like when you see an old friend having a bad day. So the hedgehog decided to try and cheer up the two-tailed fox.

"Well, so what? Everyone messes up from time to time. These bozos just caught you at an unlucky moment. Your way better than a lot of people I've fought, so don't be so hard on yourself!" The blue blur said with great enthusiasm.

Tails smiled slightly at Sonic's support, "Thanks. But I still shouldn't have held back last night."

This took Sonic by surprise, "Wow! Back it up, you held back against me?" the fox nodded slightly and received a chuckle from his fellow prisoner, "Go figure! I was holding back too! If we get out of here, we have got to spar some time!"

Tails smiled as he declared, "Seriously? That would be totally awesome!"

The large metal door swung open and a gruff voice spoke, "That's a very big 'if' gentlemen." The ominous figure strode in to reveal himself in the light of the prison cell.

**[BGM: 10's by Pantera]**

This Mobian stood twice as tall as the guards and his robe, armor, and mask were scarlet in color, making him appear far more threatening. He held no weapon besides a revolver on his belt, but his most intimidating feature was his left.

The arm was completely metallic and dark brown in color and had visible gears and wires sticking out yet was strong enough to lift a cow like a paperweight.

"I am Commander Pain. It is not only my last name, but also a nickname." Pain said as he walked around the room in military fashion: arms behind his back, "Co-operate, and you will not find out why it is also a nickname, though I think it is self-explanatory." The commander said sarcastically.

"Where are we?" Sonic asked in a demanding voice, not impressed by the man's entrance.

The commander slowly turned to him, "We are on route to a military instillation in the middle of the Neutral Zone, where you will be interrogated and tortured for information... unless you provide said information now and you will probably somehow 'escape'. After all, a lot of things get confusing up here."

"Wait, on route?" The confused fox on the wall asked as the gigantic soldier turned to him.

"Yes, you are currently on the aircraft Excalibur. It is as fast as a jet, but as well protected as a blimp."

The scene shifts to the outside, where a large cargo plane with many machineguns and canons are visible sticking outside the windows. The plane itself is brown in colour and spans the length of a mansion. The engines, numbering four, however were a shiny metal with neon yellow streaks visible at the back, but they produced no sound.

"This aircraft is the perfect combination of Steam and Cyber technology. And there is no way off it without my say so." Pain spoke darkly as he explained their situation.

"So why don't you say your say so, so that we can leave, what do ya say?" Asked the smirking hedgehog and Pain chuckled.

"Oh Sonic. Still as witty as ever I see. But enough of that. You two boys have some very interesting equipment, why don't you tell me about it?" The leader said in an almost kind voice.

The two resistance members however kept their heads down and their mouths shut as a sign of defiance.

The commander sighed at their response, "Very well then, if you want to play it like that..."

The next thing Tails knew was that there was a large thud next to his sensitive ear. The fox turned and saw a mechanical hand making a large dent in the metal mere inches from his face, and then turned forwards to see the commander's mask right in front of him, a chill running down the fox's spine and fear present on his face.

"Let me tell you something, _boy_." Spat the commander, "Do **not** confuse my politeness, with mercy! I have seen things that leave men scarred and have done things worth a death sentence! **Do not underestimate me!**" The man yelled at the top of his voice in rage.

Tails tried to speak or at least appear brave, but this commander was beyond intimidating. How could he stand up to this? He was just ten! And this man looked like he was about to skin him alive!

Sonic saw the kit's desperation and saw it best to step in, "Wow Arthur. Real mature you pickin on a kid. But you should also know that that _kid, _is also a lot tougher than he looks. Gave me a better fight than you did. He's not gonna break."

Arthur pulled his arm back slowly, the various mechanical parts audibly stirring and moved towards the center of the room, turning to Sonic, "True. I can see that no amount of pain on him will make him talk. On you however, is an entirely different story. I'm pretty sure after seeing the things I can do to a person, like keep them alive while I slowly squeeze their heart, will be more than enough to make him talk. Besides," the commander lifted up his metallic arm for Sonic to see, "Now I can get some payback for Operation Nova."

"I did what I had to do." Sonic replied with steeliness in his voice and his eyes narrowed.

"That you did Sonic. That you did." Commander Pain then made his exit out the room by slamming the door and yelling, "Charlie! Get me a saw and some hammers! I need to teach someone a lesson."

**[Stop BGM]**

Once the commander was gone, the sound of sobbing could be heard in the small room and Sonic turned his head to see Tails as the source of it, the kit's face ridden with hot tears and his cheeks red.

"What's wrong?" the hedgehog asked sincerely and Tails let his head hang.

"I almost broke. People almost died because of me. I was so scared. I never should have come on this mission. If I had said something, he could have found us out and so many people would've suffered."

"Whoa Tails! Don't go that far! You were braver than anybody twice your age. Anybody else in your position would feel the same amount of fear, maybe even more. But you didn't break, and that's the important part."

"Sonic..." Tails said in a sad voice.

"Yeah bud?"

The fox looked up at him and smiled, the tears now going away, "Thanks."

The hedgehog felt himself smile as he looked at the still teary-eyed ten-year-old, "No prob. But I think you should save the thanking till I bust us out. Maybe if I could vibrate really fast, I could loosen these chains."

Tails chuckled a little, "Although that might work, I have a better idea. These gloves **are** fingerless for a reason ya know." The fox then extended his sharp, black claws on both hands, making them visible.

"Wow. Hardcore." Complimented the hedgehog as Tails moved his hand down, put his middle claw into the keyhole and started to jiggle it about so as to pick the lock.

"Thanks, but I am part of a war effort, so I have to be prepared for anything… Even if it does mean going a bit feral." After about a minute or so of jingling, a clicking sound was heard as the chain unlocked, "Got it!"

"Nice going!" Sonic congratulated with the best thumbs-up he could muster.

Tails then moved his free hand over to the other chain and did the same. Although this one went a lot quicker than the other, and the fox soon found himself face first on the floor.

Sonic's slight snickering was met with, "If you're so much as smiling when I get up, I'm leaving you behind." The fox's threat worked and Tails saw that Sonic kept a straight face, barely.

The boy then moved to the shackles on his ankles and the kitsune was soon free. Tails then made his way over to Sonic and put a hand on his chin in contemplation, "I wonder..."

With a quick swipe of his hand, Sonic's chain was sliced into pieces leaving the hedgehog amazed, "Way cool Tails!"

Said fox however was clutching his hand in pain, "Those chains were harder than I thought! I guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way." Tails then reached inside his jacket pocket and produced a lock pick, "If they wanted to leave me unarmed like you, they should've taken more than just my sword."

"Hey! I don't rely on my armor that much!" protested the still trapped hedgehog.

"You know what I mean..." Tails hushed as he began to work on Sonic's shackles. Suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards them making Sonic tense up.

"Umm... Tails, no pressure and all, but could you hurry it up a bit?"

"Almost... got it... there!" The hero's other arm was free and he balanced himself as he was no longer held up and the footsteps were now right outside the door.

Tails moved to Sonic's left foot, the door handle was gripped, the hedgehog's left side was free, the door slowly opened, a click was heard and Commander Pain with tools in hand found the room seemingly empty.

The commander dropped his tools and stepped into the room, about to say several curse words not permitted on daytime television, and was knocked hard on the back of the head with a double punch courtesy of the recently freed duo.

Pain staggered forward and spun around, only to be met with a twin-spindash, again courtesy of his former prisoners, knocking him into the wall where Tails was held. The commander was then promptly locked in by the hedgehog and fox.

"See ya later Arthur!"

"Nice to meet you!" were the respective shouts of Sonic and Tails as the two ran down the hallway at full speed.

Pain quickly broke free of the restraints with his robotic arm, ripping the chains like tissue. The commander then moved his mouth to the wrist of his normal arm, his shouts being heard throughout the aircraft, "Prisoner escape! I repeat: Prisoner escape! Orders are to kill on sight!"

"That isn't good!" the duo said in unison, Sonic being surprised that Tails was keeping up with him via use of his namesakes being spun behind him.

"We need some kind of distraction!" The fox engineer said, making Sonic smile as an idea formed.

"Leave that to me."

Near the weapons vault, a large number of guards were congregated, ready to shoot anything that came near, the two guards from earlier dishing out orders.

"Listen, Pain wants these guys captured not killed." The first said.

"Understood?" The second continued.

"But what do they look like?" One guard asked loudly.

"I heard they stole someone's uniform!" Someone with an obviously faked Texan accent shouted.

"That means they could be any one of us!" Declared one guard and they began to chatter amongst themselves.

"Who could they be?"

"It's not me I swear!"

"Liar!" Were the shouts from various guards in the hall.

"Hey!" Came a slightly deep woman's voice, "I bet you it's those two in the center! They were guarding the prisoners! They must've stolen the uniforms off them!"

With that, all the guards rushed at the nicknamed Tweedle-Dim and Tweedle-Dum, all their pleas falling on deaf ears.

Sonic then rounded a corner and found Tails tapping his foot impatiently, surprising Sonic as he himself normally did that, "What took you so long? The Texan part was overboard, all you had to do was the girl part."

"Hey, my idea means my rules. Besides, who doesn't love a good Texan accent?" The hedgehog asked with a smirk.

"Well, you better practice it cause if Aunt Bunnie hears that impression it won't be pretty." The fox warned as he walked over to the armory door which was surprisingly unlocked.

"Guess they thought their security was better..." The blue blur murmured as he followed his comrade inside.

Inside, both quickly found their desired weapons, Tails' sword hanging on a wall and Sonic's armor strewn out on an examining table. After a quick check, for any trackers, both armed themselves and prepared for the inevitable battle.

While the youth merely had to clip his sheathe back into place and check his pockets that all his stuff was in there, the teen had to push a button on the armor belt, causing the armor to be sucked into the round buckle and the actual belt retracting, making it look like a regular watch complete with digital display.

After putting the watch on however, all he had to do was tap the display three times, and the suit came right back on, including moving the buckle to its original place.

"How these bozos found out how this thing came off and on is beyond me. I just hope they didn't find out too much..." Said the now re-armored Sonic.

"Well, I can check." Tails said as he sat down on a chair in front of a computer terminal and began to type on the keyboard quickly and the elder whistled as said hedgehog leaned on a wall.

"Someone's a bit of a techie."

The fox shrugged at the comment and then continued to type, "I dabble in all forms of technology… There! It doesn't look like they found out much about our stuff, haven't even sent it to command yet. And... delete!"

"Sweet. Now let's find a way off this flying doomsday bird." The speedy one said, eager to get into some open space.

"One sec!" The two tailed fox then retrieved a memory stick from one of his pouches and inserted it into a port on the computer tower, "No use in going home empty handed." After a quick download, Tails removed his memory stick and sliced the terminal in half with a quick, clean slash of his sword, making sure all their records on this aircraft were lost.

Back at the guards, the 'Tweedles' were putting back on their helmets as the others apologized, "Say sorry all you want, Pain is still gonna hear about this!" Declared the slightly deeper voiced Tweedle-Dum.

"Yeah! Now who called us the prisoners?" Demanded Tweedle-Dim.

"That would be me." Came a voice the two brothers instantly recognized as Sonic's and the hedgehog was in full battle mode as he stood tapping his foot at the end of the long hallway.

**[BGM: Gallant from Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 Soundtrack]**

Sonic's HUD became filled with stats and graphs as it analyzed the best course of action. Being hasty as he was however, Sonic didn't wait for a conclusion as he revved up on the spot, preparing his infamous Spindash.

All the guards "Uh-oh."-ed as Sonic sped forward and curled into a lightning fast ball that left behind a black and neon blue streak. Said ball took down the front guards like pins as they all fell back. Sonic then began to bounce himself off the walls, forming dents in them as he did so, and took out the remainder as he bounced around.

Tails was ahead at the doorway to the stairwell for the cargo bay, and a blue blur appeared in front of him with a slight skid and a smirk under his helmet.

Sonic then opened the door for Tails politely and said, "After you." What Tails saw however was a very large group of guards rushing at him, lances activated with electricity coming from the triangle at the top.

The fox gave Sonic a slight glare and said in a sarcastic tone, "Thanks a lot." Before jumping in with his own Spindash.

The yellow ball hit the front guard hard, causing a chain reaction as the rest tumbled down the stairs. The guard's lance was thrown into the air, and Tails jumped up and grabbed it quickly, already finding himself encircled by guards who had gotten up much faster than anticipated when he landed.

The fox ducked under the first lance and grabbed it with his namesakes, shoving the weapon back at the unprepared guard making him fall over.

Tails then began to block incoming attacks with the middle of the pole, having to jump up when someone attempted a leg-sweep. The initial jump gave him some air and used it to his advantage by jumping over the guards, taking out several from behind with a swing of his pole.

The others merely rushed in blindly, and Tails defended by spinning the pole in front of him rapidly, blocking all attacks. When Tails finally found an opening, the kit jumped into the air again and shoved his weapon into the floor hard, releasing electricity at the guards and taking all but one down.

A single remaining Neutral rushed at Tails in hopes that the pole would be stuck. His hopes were dashed when Tails pulled out the electro-staff and gave a leg-sweep of his own, tripping the guard and the fox then batting him hard on the head, knocking the man out cold.

**[Stop BGM]**

As Tails' adrenaline level subsided, the fox threw the pole on the ground and took a deep breath to regain some stamina. This little rest was interrupted when Sonic gave him a congratulatory slap on the back, making the still alert fox respond with a punch to the nose.

"Ow!" Complained the hurt hedgehog as he rubbed his now Rudolf-like muzzle, "If you're gonna be like that then I'm gonna keep the mask on from now on!"

"Sorry! You scared me!" The young kit apologized while putting his hands up in defense.

"If you say so, but I'm keeping an eye on you." The hero warned as the two made their way into the cargo hold, and blocked the door behind them with a few heavy crates and pieces of machinery.

Sonic looked around the hold for anything of use when his eyes fell on something: a large group of crates in the center with a parachute attached, "Would you look at that: twice of what's worth in a supply run of food and medicine, and a way to get off this monstrosity."

"Looks like we're home-free!" The excited fox cub declared. However the happy mood was shattered when a metal fist broke through the metal door like it was paper.

"I wouldn't say that just yet." Came the all too familiar gruff voice of Pain.

"Darn it Arthur! Don't you ever give up?" A fuming Sonic asked while the commander's hand was still in the door, his mask just visible through the hole.

"Come now Sonic, you should know the answer to that. Even you're not that stupid."

"Hey!"

"Now. I believe I said nobody gets off here without my say so. Since, on this vessel, the only place I don't have jurisdiction is the next world, and you boys are so happy to leave..." Pain's mechanical fingers suddenly straightened and began to rotate as did his hand, "... I'm more than willing to help." The man finished coldly and his mechanical fingers then spun rapidly and the ends opened up, releasing a torrent of bullets. The arm had become a Gatling gun!

The Steam and Cyber took cover on opposite sides of the hold, but Pain's mask could see through the door and knew exactly where to aim, his bullets slowly wearing away the crates they hid behind.

An idea then popped into Tails' head. An idea that involved a skill his adoptive aunt had told him to keep secret. But desperate times...

"Sonic!" The fox yelled over the gunfire.

"What?"

"You see that lever above you?"

The Blue Blur looked up to see a slim, silver lever with a red ball on the top, "Yeah? What about it?"

Tails facepalmed, "Pull it!"

Sonic's mask went up to hide his blush and he then did as told. When the lever was pulled, the cargo door opened slowly. The kitsune with a plan then pulled a lever on his side of the hold and the supply crates began to move on some tracks towards the door.

Before Sonic had the chance to jump on however, Tails pulled the lever further and the crates shot off out of the door to the ground below, the parachute activating automatically.

"What did you do that for? That was our only chance to get off here alive!" The Cyber Hedgehog complained, baffled by his comrade's move.

"I can get us off of here, but you need to keep how I do it a secret!" Pain managed hear this and began to tear away at the door, refusing to let his prisoners escape.

"I'd sing a song if I had to! Just do it!" Sonic said, now yelling over the roar of the wind as they met in the middle of the hold.

"Promise me!"

"I promise I won't tell! Just do it!"

"Okay! Grab on!" The hedgehog did as told, then found himself being dragged towards the open door. Before the terrified Sonic had a chance to rev up or even ask, he found both of them falling towards Mobius at an alarming rate. Unaware that Pain's hand had missed his throat by an inch.

Sonic made very unmanly screaming noises as they fell towards the ground quickly, hugging Tails for dear life as the fox gave him odd looks. When Tails thought they were far enough from the plane's radar, the two-tailed cub began to twirl his namesakes like helicopter blades.

Sonic suddenly felt a much smaller falling sensation and the wind no longer rushing by. The hedgehog opened one eye, hoping he wouldn't see fluffy white clouds and Mobians with halos.

What Sonic did see was slightly less believable: a two-tailed, ten-year-old Mobian fox, carrying him bridle style as he spun his rear appendages, allowing flight.

The pair then landed softly on the ground not far from the supplies and Tails set his passenger down on the lush green grass. After lying in the grass a bit and being glad he was alive, Sonic stood up and complimented his two-tailed current ally.

"That was some awesome moves back there compadre, really saved both our keesters."

Tails blushed and twisted his foot in the dirt. He never was one for praise, "Ah, it was nothing. You were the real hero back there, taking out all those guys like they were bowling pins."

Sonic however was not as modest when it came to compliments. The hedgehog rubbed the underside of his nose and smirked, "Yeah, I was pretty awesome."

The fox reacted the only way he could think of: by facepalming.

Sonic heard the initial slap and tried to reprimand the situation, "I'm kidding! You should relax sometimes."

Tails' eyes sparked up in agitation, "I actually can't. A resistance member is considered dead if they don't report in after a day of their last scheduled report time." The mechanic/warrior looked to see the sun in about the center of the sky, "We've only been out for a few hours, so I guess Aunt Sally will only scold me a bit for worrying her."

Sonic sighed, "I have to get going myself. Same rules apply to us. But I guess we should split the supplies." The blue blur suggested

Tails gave a nod and pushed a button on his wrist, sending out a radio signal.

"What's that?" The curious fifteen-year-old hedgehog asked confused.

"This sends out a radio signal to my hoverboard. The board picks up the frequency and then uses an autopilot system to come to its location. It should be here in about a minute. How are you gonna move your load?"

"Simple." Sonic clicked his heels together and the soles of his shoes expanded, becoming like the plastic his armor was made of. Two neon blue rings then appeared from underneath and lifted Sonic of the ground as the shoes joined together to form a hoverboard.

Being a mechanic, Tails gawked at what he had just seen, "Wow! I have to get me one of those!"

"Sorry bud: no copies, no loans no exceptions. Suits one of a kind... well two of a kind, but I haven't seen that one in a while."

After scanning for any tracers on the boxes, the pair realized they would have to part, both being slightly saddened as they gave their awkward goodbyes.

"So..." The elder began while rubbing his neck, "I guess... we should go, huh?"

"I guess so." Tails said with sadness clearly in his voice, "But I guess you should at least know my real name, since Tails is just my nickname."

"Huh, same here. I just got the name because of my speed."

"Well, I'm..." Tails paused and whispered, "Miles Prower."

The young fox's hope of not being heard was dashed as Sonic gripped his stomach laughing. After regaining some posture and speaking with a slight chuckle, the hero apologized quickly, "Sorry, didn't mean it like that. It's actually pretty cool."

"If you say so... so what's yours?"

Sonic paled at the question, "Well... um... it's..." the Cyber hung his head in shame, "Orgiville." As expected, Tails' laughing fit was double that of Sonic's and the fox even fell on the ground laughing, holding his stomach as he did so.

After both were finally ready, the goodbyes were said, "Well, it's been nice knowin you Miles."

"Later Orgiville." With that, the two shook hands and parted ways, dragging their supplies behind them. Both were certain that they would most likely not see the other again, especially not on friendly terms.

Yet, neither knew how big a part they would play in the war.

**A/N: My longest chapter ever! I don't know how long the others in this fic willll be, but I guess only time will tell.**

**Please review!**


	3. Home Sweet Home

**A/N: Hi! I just want to thank those who have reviewed/ followed so far, but I would like some more of you guys to at least review.**

**Also, the song titles I put up are just suggestions, you don't have to listen to them if you don't want to.**

**Anywho! On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any characters affiliated. All songs suggested go to their respected owners**

**Claimer: I own this plot and all original characters that may/do appear.**

**Chapter 3**

**Home sweet home.**

The two-tailed fox made his way through the long grass on his hoverboard, the crates being dragged behind him by a cable tie.

'Wow, what a day!' Tails thought happily with a smile on his face, 'Got tons of supplies, met Sonic the Hedgehog, **fought **with **and **against Sonic, escaped from a floating fortress and got tons of info to boot! Man, Aunt Sally is gonna be so proud!'

The fox's expression became a mix of fear and worry, "Aunt Sally…" Tails murmured and then went back to his thoughts, 'How could I forget? I've been gone for half a day without any signals sent out. They probably all think I'm dead! Man, am I gonna get a scolding…'

Soon Tails came over a hill and Steam City came into view. It was the grand capital of the Steam Empire and had many tall buildings made of a variety of strong metals.

The skyscrapers themselves were all a generic, rectangular shape being colored mostly yellow with the odd red now and again. The architecture resembled Victorian with the outlines being mostly pipes filled with the heated water that could be repeatedly recycled and made in a boiler/generator several hundred feet below the city itself, most buildings also having gears visible in some buildings blended into the sky due to all the pollution created by Robotnik's factories and the citizens either wore plain clothes like shirts and jeans or Western style outfits.

The kitsune decided it was time to tie his twin rear appendages with some wire, making them look like a single large tail and then took a specific route that lead to a drop-off point for Steam Fighter supplies, and heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked as he crossed what he knew was the 'supply line'.

Tails turned around to see a squirrel he knew well. Said squirrel was brown-furred and wore black sunglasses, a white t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off and black jeans and was holding a revolver aimed at Tails' forehead. He was made all the more intimidating by the six other Mobians around him who also had weapons.

"Jasper!" the fox said joyfully as he lifted his goggles back onto his forehead, revealing his dark blue eyes, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Upon hearing the young voice he knew well, Jasper signaled the others to lower their weapons and the fox jumped off his board and ran to his older friend, receiving a quick hug and then a noogie, "T2 my man! How's it been goin?" The squirrel asked in a voice that resembled that of a nineteen-year-old, "Don't tell me you brought this all here by yourself!"

Tails chuckled as he pushed off Jasper's hand and proudly declared, "Yup! My first solo mission and I also got this!" Tails retrieved the memory card from a slot in his shoe, "A whole bunch of data on Neutral warehouses and compounds!"

Jasper whistled as the other soldiers started to move the various crates to their secret hiding place, "All on your own?"

"Well… I did have some help, but it's a long story…" The kit said as he looked down and twisted his foot in the dirt making Jasper grin.

"Well, I'm sure Sal will want to hear all about it. I'll send word you're alive and on your success." Jasper began to walk away, "Though I suggest you give the princess some time to cool down, if you want to keep your head that is. Later T2!"

"Bye Jasper!" With that, the squirrel was gone and Tails hopped on his yellow board and headed towards the city, being left to his thoughts. This time about Jasper.

Tails rarely got to see him anymore, but Jasper had been the one to bring him to the Steam Fighters at the age of nine, he had been the one to convince the fox cub to display his namesakes in the base with pride, he had trained him, he had done so much for him. Jasper was like a brother to him…

Tails was snapped out of his thoughts as he passed a familiar small building nestled in between two larger ones, looking exactly like a Western bar and having a sign that read, "The Walrus Grotto." Maybe not the nicest sounding name, but Rotor still liked it.

Deciding to pay the old friend a visit, the kit hopped off his board and propped it under his arm as he made his way inside.

Tails opened the door and found five or six customers around a table playing a game of Black Jack with the other customers talking around the joint. All were in cowboy/girl clothing and were mostly in their teens, two or three being prepubescent. This was the way most places were since all the able bodied adults went fighting in the war.

The fox made his way over to the bar where a walrus in a waiter outfit with an old mechanical left arm and eye was cleaning a glass with a handkerchief. The fox glanced at the arm, quickly repressing memories of the event that had caused Rotor to wear the bulky piece of metal.

"Miles!" the fox snapped out of his thoughts again, he zoned out a lot, and reacted to a name he hadn't heard for a while, "Long time no see!"

"Ha,ha Rotor. You saw me here just last week." The fox teased.

"Well, business has been slow. So it just feels longer." The walrus suddenly filled the glass he was holding with root beer and handed it to the fox, "On the house! In light of your big achievement." The sixteen-year-old winked, notifying Tails they were now to watch their words as Steam Fighters, and the fox knew where the conversation would lead.

The cub accepted the glass, thanked Rotor and began to drink thirstily as the bartender spoke, "Yup. Big thing you accomplished, but there were some rumors going around that it didn't go so well…"

Tails put the glass on the counter and wiped some foam off his lips, "Well, those were just rumors. I'm A-okay. Promise."

"Well _someone _I know is quite upset over it." Rotor warned.

"That's why I'm giving her time to cool down. A friend said he would relay the real story."

"Well I bet it is some story. Care to share?"

"Trust me, you'll hear it from her. Most of Mobius will after I tell her. Well gotta go!" The cub jumped off the stool and gave a large belch from the root beer, afterwards giving an embarrassed smile to the bartender and rushing off.

Rotor chuckled, "Same old Tails. Always in a rush…"

* * *

After some more riding, the fox reached an older part of town with dirt roads and smaller buildings. Tails stopped and hopped off his board yet again when he came to a grey, cube-shaped garage with a silver garage door and red neon sign that said, "The Fox Box" in curvy letters.

Being on his own meant that Tails had to work for his own money, so he had opened up a hoverboard repair and maintenance shop. Though he wasn't the most well-known mechanic, he had enough business to survive.

The fox walked up to his shop's door and after a quick bio-scan the door was unlocked and Tails rolled it up, revealing the dusty interior as lights turned on inside presenting the various machines and pet projects.

Passing a workbench Tails hung up his old, yellow hoverboard next to three other new, shiny ones: one with sharp tips, one quite small and the last with a red stripe down the middle, all yellow.

Tails then went about his daily business of fixing and making boards. Going through some of his mail, the fox cub found what seemed to be an older envelope with a green question mark on it.

Tails shrugged and opened it, reading the few words inside:

"_Riddle me this:_

_You can see me, but you cannot touch me._

_In me you are free, but I will never be,_

_From the Earth._

_What am I?"_

Tails chuckled. Why would anyone want to send him such a simple riddle? Even stranger, there was no name, so he could not tell the answer to the questioner. As he pondered these thoughts, a familiar sound came up and Tails sighed inwardly.

The familiar sound was that of a hoverboard that belonged to a specific female bird he knew all too well. Wave curved to a stop in front of the Fox Box, throwing up a large amount of dust followed by her flipping the board and putting it under her arm.

The swallow was dressed in Western gear: brown boots with spurs as well as a brown jacket, brown pants, white t-shirt and a dark brown cowboy hat. She also had a symbol of a bird on her belt buckle.

Wave walked over to the counter and leaned on it with her free arm, starting the conversation with, "Hey shorty. How's it goin?"

Tails sighed at the nickname, yet this time it was on the outside too, "Hi Wave. Not going easy on the names today are we?"

"Hey, I'm merely stating a fact."

"Well you're only a few inches taller and you're like fourteen! Plus, I haven't even hit my growth spurt yet." The fox declared, not liking his height to be insulted.

"Wow! I was just kiddin around. Besides I didn't come here to just insult you, I only do that on Tuesdays…" the kit rolled his eyes sarcastically, "I came here to find out why my little guy wasn't here last night." She said with a wink.

"Well… umm…" Normally Tails would just come up with an answer right on the spot. A good year of being a Steam Fighter had made him a proficient actor. This time however, the swallow had caught him off with her seductive tone and the use of the words "my little guy". Tails even found himself blushing a deep red, making Wave giggle.

That was when Tails decided he wouldn't let her get him, "I… was… out." He inwardly cursed himself for hesitating.

"Well that's sort of obvious. I wanna know where."

A thought suddenly occurred inside Tails' brain, "Wait, why do you want to know?"

The fellow mechanic shrugged, "Meh, just found it weird you weren't here since the lights were off and there was no noise inside. Must have been somewhere dangerous if you took that." She said pointing at the cub's katana.

Said fox had now gathered his thoughts and dignity again, "Do I pry on your social life?"

"Fair enough." The swallow said as she got off the counter and started her board, "Though you might want to upgrade your security, in case anybody wants to take some of your low-grade tech. Well, see you later shorty!" With that, the purple bird was gone.

Tails had his hands balled into fists after Wave insulted his tech, and he blew a raspberry after her. The cub then glanced at his watch and saw that an hour had already passed.

Locking up shop, the fox exited his area of work through the back door and made sure all was locked up tight, followed by him entering an alleyway with two garbage chutes at the end and a defaced poster of Robotnik telling all to join his army.

After quickly looking around, Tails opened the left chute and jumped in, sliding down a brass tube at a fast pace, the tube having many bumps and turns as it went towards its destination, and the happy yells of a ten-year-old could be heard echoing through it.

After what seemed like forever, the fun ended and the fox cub landed on several soft mattresses the color of red and the feeling of thick, hot air greeting him. The area surrounding him was huge with a seemingly infinite number of walkways around the large, metal boiler that supplied Steam City with power.

Several hundred Mobians walked around and worked tediously, many in overalls and with wrenches in their hand, all members of the rebellion.

Tails jumped off the mattresses and dusted himself off, followed by untying his tails and waving them around for some relief. That was when he suddenly felt two arms wrap around him: one furred and feminine, the other metallic and cold.

Tails knew who it was instantly and smiled as he heard Bunnie's Texan accent, "My stars in heaven foxy-boy! You're alive! And here I was thinkin I would never see you again!" She yelled as Tails neared unconsciousness from lack of air supply, taking in a deep breath once he was put down.

"I missed you too Aunt Bunnie." The fox smiled warmly as he saw his fifteen-year-old, yellow-furred aunt in brown jacket, purple shirt and brown cowboy hat. By now Tails had gotten use to the metallic limbs that Bunnie wore as her arm and majority of her legs healed from the same incident that had injured Rotor.

As soon as Tails' smile came however, it was gone and he looked at the floor twiddling his thumbs, "You're gonna scold me too, aren't you?"

Bunnie chuckled and put her metallic arm on his shoulder, "As much as I'd love to, that's not my job darlin. On the upside, I've sent some words around dismissin the rumors you were killed and told her about how many supplies you brought in."

"How did that go?" Tails asked hopefully.

"Well…" Bunnie scratched the back of her head, "I'd say she's gone from being as upset as a cat in a rain storm, to a dog in a bath. But that's not much of a difference."

Tails nodded. Having canine similarities, and being ten, he knew that there was hardly a difference between the two examples. Tails thanked Bunnie for what she had done and made his way through the endless maze of walkways, eventually standing in front of the door to a large room used as the princess' chambers. Taking a deep breath, the fox pushed open the door and got ready to face the music.

* * *

**[BGM: Hell Above the Water by Curve]**

Miles away on the other side of Mobius, Sonic made his way through tons of grassland. Though this grassland was more swamp-like and everything seemed dull thanks to the clouds from above that blotted out the sun.

Though Sonic cared not for the scenery because as soon as he had dropped off the supplies, the Blue Blur put his helmet back on and turned on some tunes.

Sonic continued to float on his hoverboard as he neared and then entered an open pipeline that served as the Cyber Fighters secret entrance. The hedgehog spun around in the pipe using an air guitar to mimic how he thought the guitarist was playing.

The pipe echoed with the whirring of a hoverboard and the sound of Sonic repeating the words. Mobius' fastest personal concert was interrupted however when the display on his HUD became that of his green-furred brother Manic.

"Sonic bro!" Half-yelled over the music and half-yelled in panic, "Get over here mondo fast! Sonia's going crazy!" Sonic just pretended to hear his brother and nodded, speeding up to see what the heck was going on.

The armored hedgehog soon arrived at the base's command centre: a medium-sized room with many monitors, desks and papers. This was the difference between the Cybers and Steams: one side stayed together while the other split into smaller groups.

Right now however, the room was in shambles as Sonia looked angry and various workers hid behind their desks in fear of her immense strength.

"You!" Yelled the pink-furred Sonia as she pointed at Sonic, "Do you have any idea how worried we were!" Her face was as red as her outfit which was a pink variation of the suit Sonic wore under his armor while her quills were shaped into a curved hairstyle. Manic was in the back, sighing with relief that his sister had redirected her anger. The other male of the Hedgehog family was in a green variation of Sonic's suit and his quill were done up to resemble a Mohawk.

At that moment, the blue brother was glad his music was at full volume, so that he didn't hear the all the profanity Sonia began to spill, though he could read her lips pretty well. When she was done yelling he said, "One sec, let me turn this off first…" And Sonic tapped the side of his helmet twice, turning off the music.

**[Stop BGM]**

"You were saying?"

"Trust me dude…" Manic said as he attempted to calm down Sonia, "It was nothing you wanna hear."

"What I want to hear Sonic is why you were gone so long for something like a simple supply run." The younger sibling inquired.

Manic knew where this would lead, and where that could lead so he told the rest of the crew to take five, a command they gladly accepted, and Sonic began his story…

* * *

Back at the base under Steam City, a certain two-tailed vulpine received yet another hug from his other aunt, princess Sally. Said squirrel was brown-furred with long, chestnut hair and wore a blue, sleeveless jacket and blue boots, "Tails, I'm so glad those rumors were just rumors! I was so worried."

Sally's words echoed through the large, white room with pillars and throne. The princess released her adoptive nephew from the hug and 'Nice Sally' left the building, something evident on her face which now had a disappointed look on it, this was what Tails had been dreading, "I can't believe you did something so irresponsible!" Started the fuming fifteen-year-old, "Not only did you take so long to respond, but you also took an hour to come here! I thought you were dead! We all thought you were dead! Do you have any idea how selfish you were taking your time?"

The fox looked at the floor depressed, "But I had a good reason…"

"Well then let's hear it. And no stories" Sally said with a huff as she crossed her arms.

While Tails gave the skimmed over version of why he was late, Bunnie and a coyote in a blue military uniform poked their heads out from behind the huge door.

"This is not of the looking good for Tails." The brown-furred coyote with a sword spoke with a heavy French accent.

"Quiet Antoine." Bunnie whispered as she raised an ear, "I wanna hear what they're sayin."

After a few minutes, Tails had told the series of events and all that had transpired, minus the part of why he waited an hour. At the end, Sally put a hand on her head and sighed, "Tails, I said no stories."

"But I have proof!" Declared the kit as he retrieved the yellow memory stick from his shoe and held it up, "This has Neutral army bases and supply depot locations, as well as several battle plans and weapon designs! Not to mention leader locations."

If all this was true, the two-tailed vulpine had just struck gold and then some. But Sally was still skeptical again evident by the look on her face, so the fox persisted.

"_Please _Aunt Sally! When have I ever lied to you?" The princess sighed again and called for Bunnie, surprised to find her best friend and Antoine, her personal guard, just outside the door. Although offended at having her privacy invaded, Sally was glad she didn't have to relay the story she had been told.

At the Cyber Enforcers' base, the green and pink and hedgehogs stared at the screen in awe as they saw that not only could a ten-year-old match their best fighter, but he could also fly! The two siblings were able to view all this thanks to a camera in Sonic's armor, and they had hooked up said armor via cables.

"Told ya." Sonic smirked as he rubbed the underside of his nose.

"That you did bro." Manic agreed.

"Hold on a sec…" Sonia said and began to rewind the tape to where Tails was downloading all the data from the computer, "Sonic, do you see what's on that screen?" She asked rhetorically.

"Umm… some maps and words?" The elder, blue sibling asked earning a nod from Sonia as Manic explained.

"Not just any maps and numbers dude, **way **important stuff like plans and locations. Basically all we need to defeat the Neutrals."

"Oh…"the Blue Blur said in a sort of 'oops' way.

"Sonic, you need to get that memory stick." Sonia somewhat commanded.

"Oh, that's easy!" Sonic said with a fake smile and over happy voice, "I'll just find their secret, heavily fortified base and run around asking for Tails!" Sonic then crossed his arms with a dull expression on his face, "Unless of course you have a better idea?"

"Actually, I might." Interrupted Manic, "I have a few spies in the Steam Fighter base. It will take some time, but I'm sure they can go find our fox friend's memory stick."

"In the meantime Sonic…" Started the still upset pink sister, "You stay put! We've done enough worrying for today."

The blue brother sighed, knowing it was easier, and less painful, to not argue with his sister and said stubbornly, "Fine."

Manic was never one for awkward silence, so he broke the tension by grabbing his two elder siblings around the neck and saying, "Hey! Who wants hot chocolate?"

* * *

Sally had mixed feelings after seeing the display on Bunnie's arm fizzle out. Having temporary robotic limbs came in handy at times, especially when her arm had a memory stick slot and hologram projector.

The rabbit handed the small device back to a beaming Tails, certain he would get a promotion for this. Not prepared for what Sally was about to say.

"I'm sorry Tails." The kit's smile slowly dropped, "If this is all true, I am grateful for what you've done. But this also proves how dangerous the war is getting if the Cybers are sending out Sonic the Hedgehog and the Neutrals are now willing to interrogate young children." His claws slowly came out and he balled his fists in anger as another person was now judging him on age and size instead of skill, "Because of this, and I am sorry, I am not allowing any inexperienced troops out for field missions in the foreseeable future."

"What!" The vulpine uncharacteristically yelled out in anger, "But I held my own against him! Plus I brought all this info and helped _him _escape!"

"That's beside the point Tails." The princess responded calmly.

"Then what is? If it were anybody else, they would get a medal but I get a suspension!"

"Because I care deeply about you Tails, and I can't bear the thought of you getting hurt."

"Well get over it! You're not my mom so stop acting like you are!" Tails then turned around and ran away sobbing.

"Sacre blue." Said Antoine.

"You okay darlin?" Asked a concerned Bunnie.

"I'm fine. In some time, hopefully, Tails will understand why I did this. It's just…"

"Just what Sally-girl?"

"Did I make the right choice doing it?" Sally asked hopefully.

"Sorry, but that's an answer only time is gonna give us…"

Meanwhile in Tails' room the kit was in the fetal position crying on his top bunk, his thoughts dwelling on his parents…

* * *

**Ta-da! Chapter three all done! I just want to apologize for the long wait. I suffer from a serious condition called laziness. If you call now to make a donation, I'm sure we can find a cure.**

**Now, a favor to ask: if you, or anyone you know of, enjoys drawing or painting or any form of visual art, I would very much like a story cover for this. Please PM me if you're interested!**

**Please review and peace to all!**


	4. Just Another Day

**A/N: Yes I know this is taking long, but I've been struggling with some writers block recently, and am just trying to keep the quality up. So please continue to be patient and I would like to thank all those who have viewed/reviewed/followed this story so far.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any songs suggested.**

**Claimer: I own this plot and all original characters.**

**[BGM: Bleach OST: Nothing Can be Explained]**

**Chapter 4**

**Just another day…**

There was a small knock at the metal door followed by the voice of Bunnie, "Tails hun, can I come in?"

"Go away." Came the reply of the young, slightly sobbing, fox but his adoptive aunt ignored the command and came in anyway.

The room was very similar to all the other cabins: it was small and made of the same dark brown metal like the rest of the generator room. The kit's quarters had a single bunk bed, desk and chair and several posters of hoverboards on the walls. What surprised Bunnie was that the picture of Tails and his parents that rested on the desk was turned down so that none could see it.

"C'mon sugah-fox, no one's seen you for hours. You need to put some yummy in that tummy." The cyborg said in an uplifting manner as she revealed a tray with various foods on it, but her tone did not help one bit.

"Why should I keep my strength up if Aunt Sally isn't going to let me use it?" The fox replied as he remained curled up with his head turned away.

Bunnie sighed as she put the tray on Tails' worktable and sat down next to the vulpine and said soothingly, "Listen darlin, we just don't want nothin to happen to you is all."

"But I can take care of myself." Declared Tails as he kept his face turned, "I took care of myself before I came here, and I can keep doing that. I know how to survive on my own but she doesn't care! Why won't she let me help?"

"Tails…" Started the female hare, "We all care a lot about you. If I was in your position, I would be madder than Rotor when someone touches his ear. I would probably quit right here and now, but Sally does have her reasons."

"Like what?" The fox sniffed.

"She doesn't… scratch that, we all don't want you to get hurt. Anything can happen out there. Landmines, booby traps, friendly fire, plenty of baddies just like Commander Pain… why I don't know what I would do if you got hurt. But I promise you Tails, I'll talk to Sally and she'll come around and show how proud she is of you, then you'll get your medal and your promotion."

"Really?" The fox asked with hope as he finally looked at her.

"Pinky promise." The two then did the ever famous ritual of small fingers and Tails gave a small smile. After that they talked in more detail about his mission while Tails ate his small meal and the time then came for Bunnie to leave.

"Now you get some rest. All that cryin probably left you bushed." Bunnie said as she walked out the door.

"Night Aunt Bunnie." Tails replied tiredly as he turned over and the door was closed.

Standing outside the door was the clumsy coyote known as Antoine who had been there waiting for her return, "So, how was it going?" he asked in his broken English.

"Tails is puttin on a smile, but deep down I know what he's really upset about now, and it's only gonna get worse when he _is _actually upset about what Sally did. I just wish I could find some way to help him."

The coyote gave her a sympathetic look as he felt his body drop, "Sacre blue, and here I was of the thinking that this would be just another day. But I'm sure he will come around of the soon. In the meaning of time, how about we… I don't know ave a drink?"

"Ya know Ant, I think that would be great."

**[Stop BGM]**

* * *

**[BGM: Noots by Sum 41]**

The next morning under Cyber City, an alarm tuned to a specific song sounded and there was a yawn from a well known cobalt hedgehog. Sonic woke up in his bed and looked around his room. It was about five times the size of Tails' and was mostly white with lines of grey here and there signifying doors, storage or electronics.

After wiping his eyes to remove the drowsiness, the Blue Blur pulled the black covers of his bed off and jumped out, landing on the soft white carpet and then lazily walking to his light blue tiled bathroom to take a shower.

Inside said appliance, the hedgehog sang along (out of tune) with the song that played as an alarm system while he showered,

"…I feel this burning inside! A feeling that no one should know! I'd wait here till then!..."

After having cleaned his quills and body, the anthropomorphic hero whistled as he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked to the mirror. Once there, he retrieved a toothbrush and some toothpaste from the medicine cabinet and looked in the mirror as brushed his pearly whites.

The mirror was suddenly revealed to be a screen as the pink face of Sonia appeared and yelled, "Sonic! Emergency!" This was more than a big shock to said brother and he showed it with an audible "Gah!"

This noise of fright was followed by Sonic choking on his toothbrush, and him hitting his chest until it eventually popped out of his throat and jumped around on the floor a bit, leaving white marks of toothpaste.

"What *cough* is it?" The hero sputtered.

"First off, would you turn off that music!" The sister yelled over the speakers.

"What? I can't hear you! Let me turn off the music!" And with two claps, the song stopped.

**[Stop BGM]**

"Now, is there a reason you called me so early?" Sonic enquired as he rinsed his mouth.

"First off, its already eleven-thirty, and you were supposed to be at training an hour ago…"

"Training shmaining. I can handle myself against anybody." Sonic interrupted calmly as he picked up the toothbrush.

"You almost got beat by a five-year-old…"

"Ten-year-old and he was good."

"Whatever, the reason I called is because there's a problem by The Ruins, and none of our agents fit the bill and we can't call in large groups from the field right now, so we need you to handle it."

This was the way it usually was: while Sonia was good at rallying people, Manic was an excellent strategist and Sonic took up the role of trainer for some more advanced troops. This way, each of the royal hedgehogs brought something different to the table and allowed the resistance to survive.

But because Sonic took on the more dangerous missions, not that the other two couldn't handle themselves in a fight, he was often seen more by the troops and got the most praise, resulting in his rather inflated ego.

"Alright sis, what is it this time?" The elder brother asked uninterested as he leaned on the sink.

"One of the funders for the resistance is being held captive by The Militia."

"Militia… Militia… who are they again?"

Sonia sighed audibly, "They're liken the Neutrals, but more direct and less connected. Sort of like a gang with no goals."

"Oh yeah! Those idiots! I've been waiting for a rematch with Bean!"

"Well you're in luck. He's the one directing the hold-up and is demanding a very large ransome for her return…"

"Wait!" _Her?_ As in female? As in the only female benefactor we have?" Sonic asked hoping for a no, but got a nod as a response instead, causing the hero to rub his eyes in frustration, "I swear you can set your watch by her. I'm starting to get the feeling that she's getting deliberately captured just to see me. Heck! I've seen her handle guys three times the size of Bean with ease!"

"Whether you like it or not, she's in trouble and needs help. Besides, she's also spending a lot of money on us and risking her life by supporting us." Sonia scolded.

With a defeated sigh Sonic said he would get right on it.

* * *

The Ruins was a great deal away from the bustling centre of Cyber City and was often a tourist attraction in times of peace. The entire area was surrounded by marble pillars and columns that were covered in foliage and decaying.

It was said that these structures were the oldest surviving remnants of previous society, dating back before many of the Overlanders* disappeared.

Inside the centre of what appeared to be an old, round stage was a dark pink hedgehog in a black dress, black platform shoes and had light blue rings on her white gloves. Her quills were done so that they looked like smooth hair and she appeared to be the age of fifteen.

Around said girl were a large group of Mobians carrying weapons and dressed in leather, biker jackets. One that stood out among them was a light green duck with no weapons but instead had a sash with many grenades on it.

Amy sighed out of boredom. She could easily break out of the loose ropes and take on the goons, but that would cause her to miss a chance to see her knight in advanced, shining armor. Though the length of time he was taking was giving her second thoughts about this.

At that moment, Bean sighed as well. The green duck upset that there was a lack of shiny objects nearby for him to play with.

Little did either of them know, Sonic was already there, having his armor take scans of the area and come up with the best course of action.

"Well guys, doesn't look like he's gonna show, so let's head back and take a nap." Said Bean in a serious voice.

"Wait!" Cried Amy, "I'm sure if we wait a little longer he'll show up!"

Deciding that now was the best time for a grand entrance, Sonic leaped off his perch and did a summersault before landing and striking a heroic pose, "Yeah Bean! All you had to do was wait a little longer! I'm not quite sure why you were made the leader."

"I ask myself that a lot…" Whispered a brown bear to someone next to him.

"Oh, this is why." Bean then pointed at the bear and one of his grenades suddenly exploded, killing him instantly, "Now any questions? Didn't think so!" The duck declared happily.

"Look Bean, let's just skip over the small talk: you're insane, I'm brave and she's in trouble. Now let's get to the good part."

Bean considered this for a second, "Hmm… okay. Boys, load him with light please!"

**[BGM: One Step Closer by Linkin Park]**

The group didn't have to be told twice and they opened fire on Sonic, filling the air with the sounds of lasers going off. Bolts of red and green neon light zipped across the field and the sounds echoed throughout the valley.

Sonic however, was making his trademark blur as he dodged each blast with ease by moving from side to side, further enraging the thugs by striking a bored pose, yawning or tapping his foot each time he moved to a different position.

The hedgehog was having so much fun, he didn't even notice the grenade land behind him, and though he moved, he was still caught in the explosion, forcing him forward and making him land hard on his stomach and skidding slightly on the grass, followed by his armor being covered by laser blasts.

Although his advanced armor could take a beating, this was pushing limits. Thinking quickly, the hero pushed himself off the ground and started revving up his legs, allowing him faster speed when he landed, taking off with his fist outstretched and delivering crushing blows to the faces of the Militia troops, effectively removing six soldiers from the equation.

The Blue Blur then screeched to a halt and activated his energy sword, smiling under his helmet at the sound. Again Sonic took off, though this time he sliced their weapons in half, rendering them useless and resulting in a small explosion knocking them unconscious.

Soon the only threat left was Bean himself, but getting to him was not going to be easy considering he was throwing grenades like a madman. Dodging left and right, Sonic was having a hard time as each of the grenades exploded as it passed him, and they all came at a rate that was near his own speed. What doubled the madness was that they never seemed to run out and Bean's very own cackle made the scene eerie.

The grenades eventually came to a stop, and Sonic found himself breathing heavily and extremely tired as the green loony came closer with a particularly large explosive and a broad smile on his face as he said childishly, "Bye Sonic!"

**[Stop BGM]**

Before the grenade could be thrown however, a gigantic, cartoon-like, shining neon-pink hammer with grey shining sides hit the head of the crazed Militia leader, making him see birds and stars as he fell down.

When Bean hit the ground it was revealed that the owner of said hammer was none other than Amy with a scowl on her face as she huffed, "That's what you get for trying to hurt my Sonic!"

Realising that her beloved was near she was about to run over and hug him, but then saw that he was tapping his foot, had his arms crossed and looked at her disappointedly. A sign that he knew of her scheme.

Amy twiddled with her thumbs and smiled nervously, "Listen Sonic, I can explain. You see I was…umm…"

Sonic interrupted her by raising his hand, "Save it Ames. Let's just get Mr. Coo-coo awake again."

Bean proved to be surprisingly resilient as he woke up only a few minutes later, albeit with a massive headache and a red bump on his head. As he rubbed it, he heard a strange jingling sound.

Opening his eyes, the source of the sound was revealed to be a handful of silver coins. Bright silver coins. All being thrown up into the sun and being caught again by Sonic, allowing Bean to see all angles of them.

Without a moment to spare, the Duck leaped at the spare change, only to find himself landing on his chest hard when Sonic moved his hand away, "Not so fast B-man. No way is this your usual plans. Tell us who you work for and what they want, and the coins are all yours."

Without hesitation the duck explained the whole story in three seconds flat, "I don't know who it was, but The Militia want to lead the people into a new age of prosperity and freedom, and I just work for them because they said it would be fun! Now gimme, gimme!"

Sonic turned around and tossed the coins over his shoulder, Bean catching them and staring in awe.

"What now?" Asked Amy who had been leaning against a pillar, bored.

"Now I call all this in and you go home where it's safe." Sonic said this as seriously as possible in hopes that she would get the message, but it had the opposite effect.

"Oh! Sonic! I knew you cared about me and didn't want me to get hurt!" Before he knew what was going on, Sonic was soon wrapped in a hug that squeezed all the air out of him.

"Amy… please… let… go…" As soon as she complied, Sonic began to pant rapidly. As he did this, the Blue Blur noticed a black and red streak out of the corner of his eye, "Ames, don't take this the wrong way but I have to go." He said in a very stern voice, "Stay safe and go to Meeting Point B. I have to go take care of something." Without another word, Sonic then took off full speed, leaving a confused Amy.

* * *

In the Steam Fighters base, Sally was currently typing away at a keyboard analysing all the data Tails had recovered. Although she had many other people capable of doing this task, this allowed her to clear her head and think of what had occurred.

"I know I made the right choice, then why does this feel so wrong?" She asked hrself, but her thoughts were interrupted when the screen began to flash as a new file opened: Project End.

Noticing that the project was ready for activation, and even had a date scheduled for it to activate, she decided that this needed a look at. Skimming over the details, she gasped and headed down the halls looking for Antoine and Bunnie, petrified.

* * *

The hedgehog wasn't certain if the being he was chasing was indeed the one who he had a personal vendetta against. The speed this character had pointed to that as his identity, going so fast and moving so rapidly and unpredictably that Sonic's computer could not lock onto it for the time needed for a scan.

The chase had so far lead them to a market near The Ruins, surprising shoppers and retailers alike as the blurs blew by. Though they stayed in the same general area for the one being chased made various turns while trying to lose his opponent. Though Sonic wasn't going to give up that easily.

Eventually Sonic caught a break as they came up to a relatively straight street, allowing him to build up some proper speed, and once close enough, Sonic was certain this was him. The armour was sleek, black and shiny like his, though the dark neon-blue patterns were replaced by a blood coloured neon red.

The hedgehog then reached out with his hand and was mere inches away from grabbing his opponent by the neck, but fate was cruel and a vase rolled in front of Sonic and before he knew it, the hero was spinning in the air and then landed with a hard thud.

Adding insult to injury, Sonic was unable to stand up so as to give chase again when a third party of the chase was revealed: a cloaked figure.

The two collided and the speed at which this being was going, surprising Sonic that it was near his own, they entered into a gigantic tumble and tangle of bodies. The chaos making sure that Sonic had lost sight of his target.

Once the rolling had stopped, and Sonic had gathered his mind, the speed demon decided to give this character a piece of his mind. Pulling back the beige hood, the face was revealed to belong to none other than, "Tails?!"

* * *

**A/N: And that's all for now. I feel good about this chapter. It wasn't as long as I hoped for it to be, but I did all I wanted to do in it.**

**Now two things: **

**Being from South Africa, and moving, I have only recently had access to the Archie Sonic comics (though I do know the story so far from the internet) and neither of them have had either Antoine or Bunnie in them yet, so just tell me how I'm doing on accents.**

**Secondly, I still have received no response in terms of the cover art, so please if you are interested, PM me or say so in a review.**

**Till next time, please review!**


	5. Getting Home

**A/N: Come on guys, this really isn't cool. Last chapter I got no reviews. If I get no reviews then I think either you don't care anymore, or this fic isn't even worth reviewing. In which case, I don't see the point in continuing this. **

**So please even if you have only bad things to say, say them so that I can avoid doing so in the future and I do accept guest reviews, so please at least just write a small bit so that I know this is getting attention.**

**Now that the depressing part is over, I just want you to know that I still have not received any responses for cover art, so if you're interested in doing some Cyberpunk/ Steampunk art, please send me a PM or say so in a review.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the hedgehog.**

**Claimer: I own this plot and all my original characters.**

**Getting Home**

Sonic ran through the crowded streets and Tails followed in midair. The amazement that the fox could keep up with him had long passed and the hedgehog was now worried beyond belief. How did Tails get past the city defenses? How did he find Sonic? Why was he here?

All these questions, and several more, passed through Sonic's head faster than he could run. What worried him at that moment was if Tails would be discovered. True, most in the city were now used to a blue streak passing by, but not a blue and orange streak.

Though the resistance would do nothing to harm him, all around the Cyber territories there was a hidden hate for the Steams for all the wars that had gone by, the capital city included. Sonic even cringed at the thought of what could happen to the kitsune if Dr. May got hold of him…

Said fox however was confused, and a little mad, due to all the silence and worry caused by his arrival. He was certain that the Blue Blur would be happy at his proposal, but before he even got a chance to explain himself Sonic took off and told Tails to follow.

It was evening when they arrived at Sonic's preselected destination (mainly because of all the backtracking Sonic did to make sure they weren't followed).

The area was mostly filled with large, grey warehouses that seemed to be abandoned, all surrounded by an expansive dessert and surrounded by a metallic fence.

The duo screeched to a halt outside the backdoor of a warehouse designated B1. The young fox fell down on the porch of the door while breathing heavily. Although his tails could propel him to just above supersonic speed at max and he had a very above average stamina level, he was only ten and he often didn't get to practice using his speed for long distance travel, so needless to say he was worn out.

After waiting several moments for the kit to regain his breath, Sonic knocked on the metal door with seven catchy taps of his right knuckles. After a few seconds, the door was unlocked and the two stepped inside.

Sonic turned around to ask Tails the questions he needed answers to but was stopped as Amy suddenly jumped out from behind some crates and tackled him to the ground in a hug yelling, "Oh Sonic! I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried! You were gone for so long and…"

At this point Amy noticed the young vulpine also in the warehouse and his strange attire. With a "Hi." From Tails, she put two and two together and leaped into the air with her gravity-hammer in hand and prepared to deliver a massive blow to the kit's noggin.

Pushing Sonic behind her the pink countess yelled, "Don't worry Sonic I'll protect you! You aren't going to hurt my Sonic you Steam-sided fox!" With a swing of her hammer, she expected to hear a crack, but instead heard a metal clink and looked to see that Tails had blocked the attack with his katana.

The two then began to push with all their might, trying to overpower the other. Deciding he didn't want an all-out brawl Sonic stepped in, "Wow Ames! The kid's with me so relax."

After an apology from Amy, and some anger from Tails which was appeased with mint candy, the two let bygones be bygones and introduced themselves.

"I am Countess Amelia Rebecca Rose at your service. But most people just call me Amy." She said with a curtsy.

"I'm Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails. Nice to meet you." The fox returned with a handshake.

"Prower, Prower… I'm certain I've heard that somewhere before…" The countess whispered to herself as she shook her hand.

The three then pulled up several crates to sit on and talk. Sonic being the first to ask, "Alright Tails, question: What are you doing here?"

The two-tailed fox cub then told the two what had happened upon his return to his base, "… so I thought that Aunt Sally would be really impressed if I did something even more amazing!"

"Like what?" Amy asked expectantly, surprised that someone would refer to a queen as their aunt.

"Get the two resistances to join forces!" At this the two hedgehogs went blank. They were unsure if they should laugh at how naïve he was or worry about the fox's mental health.

"Ahem, Tails." Started Sonic with a nervous smile, "That's a lot easier said than done bud."

"I know that, but I also know that you're a royal, and a one of the leaders of the Cyber Fighters. If you could contact your brother and sister maybe… we… could..." Tails then looked at the floor as he saw the sad looks on their faces, "Why won't that work? I don't get it. If people really want the wars to end, they need to work together, so I thought that…"

"Listen Tails your heart is in the right place, but there's so much politics in place, and so much has happened. It just isn't that simple." Sonic didn't know why he said what he said next, but it had something to do with the look on Tails' face. It seemed to reach into his soul and stir something deep and painful, "But I promise, I'll try this idea of yours."

In an instant the fox was bright and happy again. It was as if Sonic's mere words were better than any deal he could strike or any treaty he got written up there and then, "Thanks Sonic! You're the best!"

With gratitude going to his head, the hedgehog smirked knowingly, "Well I try…"

"Well, I think it's about time we get this cute little guy home, don't you think Sonic?" The female of the group said as she jumped off her crate.

The youngest of the group however, was far from happy as he had his hands balled into fists in a small rage and a dark aura formed around him.

"Umm… Sonic, did I say something wrong?"The hero then leaned in and whispered his opinion that Tails might have height issues, "Oh, sorry."

"It's fine." The vulpine grunted through his fangs.

"Besides Ames, I say we let Tails have a night on the town! How often does he get to hang with rich celebs in a city built for nightlife?" Sonic asked as he tried to change the mood.

"Well actually, Sally is a queen which counts as a celebrity and I see her often. Plus I know tons of rich people like Antoine d'Coolette, Rotor Walrus…"

"Details, details. Come on, whadya say?"

The kit rubbed his arm nervously in contemplation, "Well… I suppose it would be safer to go back in the morning. With all the guards that are out now I mean."

"Oh yeah! How did you get around the defenses? And how did you find Sonic?" Asked Amy who was highly curious.

"Getting inside wasn't too hard. The city defenses are built against fast land objects and gigantic flying objects, so they never saw me. As for Sonic, it was a stroke of luck. I just happened to be in the same part of town when I saw him chasing someone. Who was that anyways Sonic?"

"Just someone I have a bone to pick with." The hero said as he waved off the question, "Now, let's get this party started!"

"You might wanna put on some street clothes first. You too Tails." The female said as she reminded Sonic that he was still in his armor and the kit that he lacked a disguise.

**[BGM: Linkin Park-Burn it Down]**

"Right, thanks Ames." The cobalt hero then pushed his belt buckle and the armor returned to a watch, revealing that underneath Sonic's street clothes consisted of a grey jacket with a black stripe on the right, white pants and white shoes as well as a pair of black, fingerless gloves.

Tails received a similar outfit from one of the crates they had filled with extra clothes, and soon Amy contacted a personal limo. The kit stared in amazement at the white vehicle with pink neon lights underneath as it floated slightly above the ground.

"Darn it." Cursed Amy, "I told them to bring the expensive limo. Oh well, I guess this will do."

"Just how much do you have? If you don't mind me asking that is." The fox asked as they climbed into the limo and it took off, seemingly knowing where to go.

"Oh, it's no problem. After my parents well… sort of disappeared, I inherited their hover-technology company. After a few modifications in marketing I made, our profits tripled. Basically I could buy pretty much anything, but I only spend a fraction on fun, and most of it goes to the Cyber Fighters."

"Wow. You must be _really _rich. I only own a small shop, but I think I've used some of your products. Besides a few glitches, it's pretty good."

"A few glitches? Like what?"

"Well firstly…" Tails started but was cut off by Sonic.

"Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. Business, but Mr. Fun here would really like to enjoy tonight." He said smirking as he chugged down a glass of soda from the bar.

"Sorry." The two said in unison and Amy got her own glass of soda as Tails looked out the window and gawked. The city was a shining bright light with casinos, clubs, restaurants, cinemas, malls, hotels, everything! Mobians of all kinds walked across the pavements in clothing like his and Sonic's or outrageous in design and colorful.

A problem suddenly sprang into Tails' head and he decided to reprimand it with a piece of string he always kept handy, tying his namesakes into one large tail again.

The limo pulled up to a club where loud music could be heard going on for miles with the sign: _"Destiny's Rouge" _in purple letters.

"I don't know about this guys. I've never really done this before." The kit mumbled as he twiddled with his thumbs.

"Relax bud, all that's in there is some music and dancing. Nothin to be afraid about except a fat lady with too much swing in her booty." With that, Sonic opened the door and a night to remember began.

**[Stop BGM]**

* * *

Tails woke up the next morning with little memory of what happened the previous night and a large headache. Looking around he found himself on the floor of what he assumed was Sonic's apartment, due to a decoration that designated it as such.

The vulpine's ears picked a soft snoring and upon entering the master bedroom, he found his speed endowed friend in his bed with the covers about the room.

"Sonic." The fox whispered hoarsely, "Sonic." With no response, Tails turned up the volume, "Sonic!"

Said hedgehog woke up with a start and fell out of bed with a large thud as he landed on the floor, "Good to see you're awake." Tails spoke sarcastically, "What happened last night?"

After rubbing his head for a few seconds Sonic replied, "Beats me, but it sure was one heck of a party! All I can remember is music, dancing and that big plate of nachos you had!"

Tails rubbed his head as the memories all came back, "Oh yeah. I don't think I'll ever have cheese again. I have no idea why I let you guys talk me into that. Speaking of you _two_, where's Amy?"

"She left earlier this morning, had some business to take care of." Sonic said as he picked himself off the floor with a yawn.

Tails merely shrugged but upon looking at the time on the clock on Sonic's bedside table, his expression became alarmed, "Sonic, I have to go now! I'm sure they'll have seen I'm not there, and the longer I'm away the more trouble I'll be in!"

"Relax Tails. Steam City is only like twenty minutes away at supersonic speed. We can have some breakfast, take in a few more sights, maybe I can even show you a few moves." Upon looking at Tails' unimpressed face, Sonic figured the answer was a no, and with a sigh, "Or we could get going."

The fox smiled that things were going his way, "Thanks Sonic. I know one of the quickest ways there."

* * *

After having the new experience of being carried over the city, Sonic was let down gracefully and began his run through the fields between the two nations. The trip itself went by rather quickly, the duo blowing through Neutral territory without even noticing.

Along the trip the fox and hedgehog merely made small conversation about their own small adventures and experiences.

"So, Tails." Sonic started awkwardly as they ran/flew side by side, "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your folks? Cause I doubt that they would approve of all this."

The fox's expression saddened as he brought up some bad memories, "Well, I don't like to talk about it, but if I do, then maybe it will get easier. When I was little…" Tails stopped midsentence and stopped himself, landing with a soft thud.

This was highly unexpected so the hedgehog had to turn around and backtrack, "Yo Tails, what's up?"

The vulpine observed his surroundings and soaked in every fine detail. The two were on in between two dense forests in a field with tall, yellow grass, "Something… isn't right here Sonic."

* * *

**[BGM: Disciple- Shot Heard Round the World ]**

As the kit said this, a gigantic explosion occurred not two feet from them, knocking the duo twenty feet away. Looking up they realized they were in a battle ground between Steam and Cyber forces.

The former entered from the left forest while the latter from the right. The Steams had gigantic robots with weapons galore: missiles, machine guns and even jet packs that spewed large amounts of smoke. The troops consisted of Mobians covered in dusty cloaks and red scarves, wielding massive machineguns from years past.

The opposing side had Mobians in white armor that seemed almost plastic and carried sleek, black lasers.

In the skies above, white jets soared across the sky leaving a trail of yellow energy as they flew towards the gigantic, red blimps with thick armor and heavy machine guns.

Explosions and gunfire filled the air as the battle raged. Screams of pain were all around and some bodies were blown apart. The gore that filled the battlefield was disturbing to say the least, and shells landed everywhere, the artillery crews seemingly not caring who they hit.

Sonic and Tails ran for cover and stayed low trying to find a way out of the fight, but to no avail. Everywhere they turned, there was either an explosion or a stream of bullets. The fox's luck ran out when he tried to hide behind a Steam robot which got hit by a laser.

The pilot inside died instantly and the chunk of metal fell backwards. Sonic yelled the kit's name as he went full speed, knowing however he would not make it in time.

Though Sonic did not know it, thanks to a series of events the fox could take all the weight of the machine, albeit with much injury, but the heat of the jetpack would fry him as he would be pinned under it.

Tails screamed in fear as he thought those moments were his last. He was shocked however as he felt himself being lifted up and the world tumbled around him. Tails opened his eyes to find himself in the arms of none other than, "Jasper! What are you doing here?" The twin-tailed fox yelled as he gave his brother a hug around the neck.

"Easy there pal! I came through here looking for you. Did you forget that your katana has a tracer on it?" The squirrel seemed to be oblivious to all the destruction around him.

"Tails you okay?" Sonic asked as the trio hid behind a rock for cover.

"I'm cool. Sonic, Jasper. Jasper, Sonic. Jasper's kinda my big bro." As the two shook hands Sonic felt a strange sadness in his heart, like he'd been replaced.

"Nice to meet you Jasp."

"Likewise Sonic I've heard a lot of things about you. I suggest however me, you and T-2 make a break for it before this gets any uglier."

With a nod as confirmation, all three made ready to move. They never got the chance as a shell landed tight in the middle of them.

**[Stop BGM]**

**[BGM: Bleach OST- Never Meant to Belong]**

Tails awoke with a groan. It seemed to be evening due to the lack of light. Looking around him there were bodies everywhere. It seemed neither side had won the battle. The air was thick with the smell of blood and gunpowder.

Trying to get up, the kit felt a weight on him and looked down. In that instant his world came crashing down. The pain of ten thousand men hit this boy with a strong force. His eyes welled up and he lost the ability to form words.

Looking down he found his adoptive brother and best friend draped over him as if trying to shield him from the blast. No breath came from Jasper's mouth and no heartbeat could be felt. Tails tried to think of something. Anything, but his mind was blank and empty like his heart.

Another figure rose up with a groan not too far away. The cobalt hedgehog's armor had activated in time and he had few injuries minus a headache. Looking ahead, he could just make out the scene. The hero was awestruck. He had no idea what to do.

Wait, yes he did. The longer Tails saw this, the more pain he would feel. Summoning his courage Sonic got up and walked over to the kneeling kit, "Tails." He almost whispered, "I'm… I'm sorry. But… we have to go. It isn't safe here."

After a few seconds Tails gathered his strength and asked that Sonic carry him back. The hedgehog made no objection and picked up his friend, speeding back to Steam City.

Upon reaching the city's edge, Sonic reluctantly put the ten-year-old down, "Well I guess this is goodbye."Tails kept his head low as they shook hands. However, the hero found something in his hand and discovered it to be a memory stick.

"It's a copy. Just to help out you guys." The hoarse voice of Tails said as he trudged towards the base.

Sonic wanted to run after him, but he knew that he was not welcome in the city so he took his leave, looking back with tears in his own eyes.

There was no scream of glee heard in the tube as Tails went down. He landed on the mattress with his head down and a look of pure depression. A few meters a way stood a miffed Sally with her arms crossed in anger.

"I hope you have a good explanation for this! We were worried sick! I even sent Jasper out to find you! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? I know you're upset, but that is no reason to…" Sally stopped her rant as Tails broke down in front of her, clutching her legs and unable to stop crying.

He said a single sentence, "Jasper's dead."

**[Stop BGM]**

* * *

**A/N: Depressing? Yes. Necessary? Very much so. This chapter was a bit more gory, but its rated Teen for a reason.**

**That's all I've got for now. Till next time, review please!**


	6. Memories

**A/N: I got a response on a review last time that said that the person didn't feel their review made a difference, well I assure you **_**any and all **_**reviews matter to me. Also, I work on a system that the more attention a story gets, the more thought and attention I give it.**

**Just wanted to let you guys know and I would like to thank all those who have reviewed so far: Dan Prower, Onyx, doylewells, Kratos Pwns and HealingHearts24. You guys are super and so are all those who have favorite or who have just come this far.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any songs suggested.**

**Claimer: I own this plot and all my original characters.**

**Memories  
**

* * *

[BGM: Bleach OST: Never Meant to Belong]

Tails was alone. That was all he felt. The search for Jasper's body was long due to all the mayhem, but they had found it after hours of searching. The funeral for the squirrel was held in secret by the Steam Fighters, each one seeming to be more depressed than the next, but none nearly as sad as the two-tailed fox.

While others had lost a dear friend and comrade, Tails had lost a family member and the only person he ever truly trusted.

The service was long and many tears were shed as Jasper had been friends with all, and almost every member said kind words at the podium. Almost all for Tails merely sat on his chair and looked at the ground.

After the service was over, the vulpine merely touched the coffin longingly and left for his room in silence. Tails sat for many hours on his bed, with his knees on his chests and tears on his cheeks, contemplating everything that had happened.

His adoptive rabbit aunt had told him that Sally had thought things over and that her nephew would receive a proper rank, new equipment and even a medal for his bravery, but the fox saw through it all as an attempt to soften the blow that fate had so cruelly dealt him, and it did little for the boy would have given it all and more up just to see and hear his brother again.

Tails had sat on his bed for five hours replaying every memory he could think of, good or bad, with Jasper in an attempt to burn it into his mind, even though he knew the images he saw on the battlefield that day would forever be in his mind.

Two soft knocks came from the door as the raspy voice of Bunnie asked, "Can I come in hone?" the fox gave no reply and the hare gave the door a try, slightly shocked that it was locked for this had never happened before, "Tails darlin I know you're upset, we all are, but…" Bunnie clenched her cybernetic fist and held back her tears, "hidin away won't solve anythin." The fox remained silent and unmoving, "Please… Miles. Let us help. You may not like hearin it, but you are still just a kid and no one will think less of ya if ya let us help."

Tails then felt a strange burning anger beginning to brew in his mind. This anger was not towards Sally who had denied him what he felt he deserved. He felt no anger at Bunnie for calling him a child. He felt only anger at himself.

The fox blamed himself for leaving without permission and bringing not only Jasper and Sonic, but the entire Steam Fighters in danger, for if he was captured the base's location might have been revealed.

"Go… go away." Tails choked out silently, wanting to stop anyone feeling more pain because of him.

"Tails darlin, please. I just wanna…" Bunnie pleaded but was cut off.

"Go away! I don't want anyone near me! Just everyone go away!" The vulpine yelled with all his breath and began to cry profusely, soaking his fur.

Outside the door Bunnie's heart ached for her nephew but decided it best to leave Tails be for the moment, "Okay Tails, just remember we're here for ya. Okay?"

The cybernetic rabbit walked down the hall towards where Sally presided, the entire base quiet besides the generator and all with their heads down. The area felt depressing as she traveled on the walkways towards the queen's quarters, having to steady herself on the railing as she felt the tears begin to form in her eyes.

**[Stop BGM]**

When Bunnie arrived she found tissues strewn on the marble floor and Sally sniffing as she stood on the centre with her back to the door, trying to focus on the matter at hand.

"Sally girl, I can come back if you want?" The kindly rabbit asked quietly.

"No, no I'm fine." The queen lied, "How is Tails? Is he any better?" The chipmunk asked worriedly turning around and hoping for the best, but felt her heart sink further when Bunnie shook her head.

"Fraid not Sal. I don't know what he's thinkin right now but all he wants is to be left alone. I just wish I knew what to do."

The queen sighed in agreement, "Same here. If only I had treated Tails differently, none of this would have happened. It's all my fault."

"Hey now that's not that Sally I know." The rabbit declared as she gently grabbed her friend's arms and looked her in the eye, "The Sally I know is the strongest, bravest, smartest and most creative person I've ever met. Not some girl who blames herself for everythin wrong in the world." Bunnie said happily.

"But…" Sally protested.

"But nothin! We have no idea what would've happened if you made the opposite choice. Besides, do ya really think Jasper would want us cryin over him instead of helpin the world?"

The chipmunk began to see Bunnie's point of view and her morale became boosted, "You're right. The world is in danger and we need to put a stop to this war! And besides, Tails is strong too, it may be hard but I'm certain he'll find a way to accept this."

"At a girl Sal! Besides, we need to cheer up before we get to the ice-cream and we have to fight Robutnik while we look like him." The two shared a small laugh before Bunnie became serious, "Alright Sal, now what exactly is this big doomsday plan?"

Sally's mood darkened as she answered, "Well, if these plans are correct, then this could be the end of Mobius itself…"

* * *

"The True Blue has arrived!" Sonic declared as he skidded to a stop next to Manic who was working on a strange machine, "What I miss bro?"

"Nothin much dude. Sonia yelled about you being irresponsible and stuff for a while before going to the gym to take out some of her anger." The green hedgehog responded casually as Sonic shook his head.

""I feel sorry for the punching bag she's against, but I do have some good news." Sonic said in a somewhat melodic tone as he pulled out the memory stick from a pocket.

"Well it better be the end of the war or else Sonia's gonna kick your can from here to the sun." Manic said as he closed the lid on the machine, "There, defense system's been upgraded so now nothing can sneak up on us." The prince's mood then became serious, "You know dude, sometimes I think sis is right. I mean you do risk your life a lot, especially today."

Sonic was taken aback, "How did you…"

"Find out?" the feminine voice of Sonia asked as she entered the room, "Your armor has a tracker remember? Now what the heck were you doing in a warzone? No lies." The pink hedgehog said with a serious expression.

Sonic sighed and he gave out a basic version, "Well, last night me and Tails had a night of fun with Amy, and I helped him get home. Problem is we ended up in that warzone, and if it weren't for Jasper we would never had made it out of there alive. Too bad the same can't be said for him." The hero clenched his fist in anger as he remembered the carnage, "I could tell that he was a good person. Tails was devastated. I hope he'll be okay."

Sonic's siblings looked at each other in confusion and Manic spoke up, "Wait, wait, wait! Isn't Tails the name of that Steam Fighter kid?" Sonic nodded.

"Sonic! He's practically our enemy! What were you thinking?" Sonia shouted angrily and her head grew three sizes.

"I was thinking that he's just a kid!" Sonic yelled in return but kept his head down, surprising his siblings.

"Sonic, you okay dude?" Manic asked concerned for his brother had never been this serious before.

"Yeah? You're usually a lot more upbeat than this." Pointed out the princess as she felt regret for her outburst and Sonic clenched his fist again and then sighed letting go of some of his anger.

"I'm cool you guys. Really. Just… never thought it was that rough out there. I always assumed fights were straightforward. But, that was all so… gruesome." Manic walked over and placed an arm on his brother's shoulder.

"Dude, war is a wacked up thing. That's why we're tryin to stop it. Besides, didn't ya say you brought somethin?" Manic reminded the cocky hedgehog and Sonic was back to his regular attitude.

"Yeah! Almost forgot I came bearing gifts. Behold, the answer to all our problems! Courtesy of Sonic the Fantastic Hedgehog!" The hyperactive hero lifted the memory stick above his head and Sonia grabbed it from his hand the second she realized what it was.

"Sonic! How did you get this?"

The blue hedgehog rubbed his nose and smirked, "Well I do know people. But the thanks should go to Tails, he did give it to me free of charge even though he is our… what did you call him again sis? Enemy was it?"

The pink hedgehog sweatdropped as she walked over to the computer, "Well, don't you always say it's better to live in the present than in the past? Well I think that applies nicely here."

"Uh-huh." Her brothers said in unison as they crossed their arms over their chests.

The screens fizzled as the information from the drive was transferred and Sonia began to look through it, "Well, this is everything we hoped it would be and more! Wait, what's this? Project End, what's that about?" The pink hedgehog clicked on the folder and the sibling's fears grew as they read each word.

* * *

**[BGM: Change by Deftones]**

At that moment Tails had been reliving a specific memory with Jasper as the fox cried on his bed:

_The hill was light green with small patches of flowers here and there and a tree on the summit. This specific spot was far away from the city and therefore making it clear of pollution and people, the perfect spot for training._

_A few feet away in a grassy plain the fox and squirrel tried to hit one another with wooden rods as a form of sword training .As a sort of difficulty Jasper had tied his brother's tails together so that the fox would have to rely on his skills besides speed._

_With a war cry Tails ran forward as fast as he could and made a hard swing to Jasper's side which the squirrel blocked easily with one hand and then tripped his brother, putting the rod at Tails' throat and smirking, "You're getting better T2. In a few months you should be as good as me."_

_The nine-year-old merely sighed and pushed the rod off his throat and standing up as he said, "As if. You're the best at everything, while I'm second-rate. This place is really beginning to suck you know? I don't get why I even came here."_

"_Oh come one Tails, you can't be the best at everything. If you live life trying to beat everyone, then you won't have any friends." Jasper replied plainly and Tails sat on the ground depressed._

"_As if I have friends. Everyone thinks I'm a freak. And I'm starting to think they're right." This came as a shock to the elder._

"_Woah there T2, who's been sayin this? I'll give what's comin to em if they mess with my bro!" Jasper emphasized with some quick movements and Tails snickered at his brother's antics._

"_I know what you're doing Jasper, and it's not gonna work. I just… feel so alone sometimes." The teen sighed and sat next to his brother._

"_Don't ever think like that Tails, ya know why?" The kit shook his head, "I'll always be your bro. Whether your close enough for a noogie, or further than I can see, I'll always be with you, in there." Jasper then pointed to the fox's chest and Tails looked at him with determination in his eyes._

"_Thanks J. I'll work extra hard to show you what I'm really made of!" Tails then tried to stand up but tripped on his namesakes, looking at Jasper over his chest as he lay._

"_That's the spirit T2." The squirrel chuckled with a warming smile._

The kit broke down harder than ever before as he thought of Jasper's smile, one he wished he could so badly see again. His bed became soaked with tears as his cries were muffled by his blanket so that no one would hear him.

"Tails. I know this is a bad time…" Came the soft voice of Sally from the door, "But I have some good news: we're forming a truce with the Cyber Fighters, and you and Knuckles are gonna be a big part of it."

**[Stop BGM]**

* * *

"That's mondo insane man!" Declared Manic as he looked over the plans again, "I've heard Robotnik is crazy and all, but this takes the cake dude!"

Sonia meanwhile was more angry than awestruck, "That… pig! How could he sacrifice so many people? When I get my hands on him, he'll be sorry he was ever born!" At this moment, she noticed her blue brother hadn't said anything and actually seemed to be thinking instead of rushing off.

"Guys." Spoke up Sonic, "I have a plan. But it is a bit crazy."

"Anything goes at this point bro." Said Manic.

"If it can work, we do it." Agreed Sonia with a nod.

A portion of the ceiling suddenly collapsed as a mechanical fist came through it and alarms rang throughout the base, all too late for a warning.

"Yes Sonic." Spoke a formal voice the trio was well acquainted with, "Do tell us this plan."

The three yelled in unison, "Dr. May!"

* * *

**A/N: Yes I know this chapter was Jasper centered, but I did this for two reasons:**

**1 I need to work on my dramatic scenes.**

**2. I wanted to show the relationship between Tails and Jasper as well as a bit more of his character.**

**Well till next time: Please review!**


	7. Things Get Interesting

**A/N: Wow! It has been ages since I've updated this! Well, better late than never I suppose, so here's what I've got, and I think I've improved since last time.**

**Also a gigantic thanks to Arcane Hurricane (a.k.a. Arcane Super Saiyan) for the mega awesome pic! Please do me a favour and look up some of his work on Devianart!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any related media. I do not own any songs suggested. All rights go to their respected owners. Image owned by Arcane Hurricane.**

**Claimer: I claim this plot as well as all original characters and locations.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Things Get Interesting**

The three hedgehogs looked on at the machine before them: It was spider-like with eight legs consisting of black tubes and spikes as feet and the main body being a dark purple. It appeared to have some sort of canon in its 'fangs' under the eight neon purple dots that made its eyes. On top of the creature, in a cockpit that consisted of a thick glass dome, stood an old enemy: Dr. Alexander May.

The scientist wore a stereotypical, white lab coat and red gloves. His eyes were covered by purple, round sunglasses and he was completely bald, his only visible hair being his grey, short beard. May stood in a formal position with his hands behind his back and a straight face.

"Do continue Sonic, I am very intrigued to hear your plan." May spoke slowly and eloquently. All three felt a knot of disgust in their stomachs, thinking of all the vile and insane experiments this man had carried out on their comrades and friends.

Sonic turned to his green brother and said sarcastically, "No one's gettin in huh?"

Manic shrugged, "What? Nobody's perfect." Sonic just shook his head and turned back to the matter at hand.

"How did you find us chrome-dome?" Asked Sonia as she inched away, trying to get to something she could throw.

"Simple really. With your brother out in the open so much, it was easy to plant a device on him. For instance, when he was in that war-zone unconscious, or when he went to the nightclub, or when he moved his attention away from Bean. Truly Sonic, I expected more."

"You think you're so smart, how come you haven't beat three teenagers with superpowers yet?" Inquired Sonic as he too moved away, getting into position for a spin-dash.

"Bro's got a point dude. After all, you do have an army but we still kick your can every time." Manic spoke, readying a wrench he had.

"Truly you are an irritating bunch. I will enjoy removing you all from existence." The doctor's main weapon powered up and was about to fire when Sonic suddenly held up a hand.

"Stop!" The hero had his eyes on the still working monitors, making sure everyone else got out before any scuffle, "Wait for it… wait for it… a little longer… and… now!"

**[BGM: Bleach OST Sakkaku]**

The three royals jumped back as Young fired his main canon. The area was lit up with a green light as computers and machines were disintegrated, resulting in a very unhappy Manic.

The three siblings were thrown back by the explosion, Sonia going through a pillar of concrete. Sonic however quickly got back onto his feet and revved up his legs before launching off in a spin-dash, striking the Spider-Mech with a hard blow to the right side. May quickly righted his machine and sent a spiked leg after Sonic.

The hedgehog barely dodged with a movement to the left, but he didn't have time to relax as another leg swept by making him jump over it. This attack was followed by rapid bursts of energy from the spider's canon. The attacks were coming fast enough to make the hero actually work for a victory, and keep him on the defensive.

The robot locked onto Sonic while he was preoccupied with three legs attacking from random sides and prepared to fire a surely fatal blast, but never got the chance as it was suddenly hit with a large piece of concrete from the side. May turned in time to see Sonia chucking blocks twice her size at the machine in a rapid pace, but he stayed calm as he revealed a second canon from the top of the machine's head and began to fire bolts of energy at both hedgehogs simultaneously forcing Sonia to duck behind a still standing pillar.

The brother and sister were pinned behind dwindling cover as the canons blasted away at their positions. The two were in real danger till Manic suddenly appeared with a laser canon of his own. It was similar in appearance to a Gatling-gun, minus the chain of bullets and had flames painted on it, and having twelve barrels in total.

"Say hello to little friend!" Manic yelled as the barrels whirred to life and the Spider-Mech was took damage as it was hit by a volley of light green laser blasts, making several warning alarms go off and pushing thee monstrosity back slowly, giving Manic's siblings a chance to move.

The pink hedgehog took this chance to move under the machine and signal Sonic who got wind of her plan and dashed next to her where she then planted her foot on his hands. Sonic then heaved his sister up where she was able to score a hit on the monsters canon, crushing it and landing again safely.

Deciding to take the battle outside, the doctor ordered his machine to hop out of the hole it had created, the three following after it.

Sonic ran up a makeshift ramp caused by the destruction of the roof and gained some air as a result, allowing him to hit the top of the cockpit, causing a crack. Sonic then smirked as he stood directly in front of the dome on the robot's 'nose'. His ego blinded him from the arm that was about to hit him and thus he received a strong hit to the side that knocked him several yards away.

The hero slowly got to his knees rubbing his head and murmuring, "Man I need to get this thing's sensors fixed." As a large shadow loomed over him. Sonic turned in time to see a spiked leg coming for his chest. The hero closed his eyes as he expected the inevitable, but after a few seconds opened them to see his sister holding back the leg with much grunting and pushing.

Sonic jumped to his feet and hit the bottom of the spider full-force, giving Sonia the chance to throw the spider onto its back and move away. Alexander's machine recovered just in time to have Manic fire explosives at it from a new weapon, this time a grenade-launcher.

A thick cloud of dirt was thrown up as grenade after grenade hit it. The three siblings regrouped and high-fived one another. Their merriment was cut short as the Spider-Mech emerged from the smoke practically unharmed and ready for another round.

"No fair! We hit that thing again and again but he's still standing like nothing happened! I call hacks! Yu-oh." The youngest hedgehog present, Manic, said as another volley of laser fire erupted from the canon forcing the trio to dodge.

This was revealed to be a ruse as the machine lowered its abdomen and fired a thick net from it's rear-end hitting Manic and trapping him. The doctor then smiled as the spikes retracted from the spider's legs and were replaced with engines, allowing the machine to soar into the sky.

"Manic!" Sonia and Sonic yelled in unison as their little brother was taken higher out of their reach.

So that was the scientist's plan all along: capture one of them.

The two hedgehogs could only watch as their brother went further from them. Sonic was about to take chase, but stopped when a bright, yellow light appeared a few feet from the machine followed by the yells, "Chaos Control! Chaos Spear!"

A spear of crackling yellow energy cut through the steel-hard material like it was tissue and caused Manic to fall out, where he was promptly caught by the person in black followed by another yell of, "Chaos Control!"

In the Spider-Mech May scowled and decided not to turn back, thinking it illogical to take _him _on as well.

Another flash of bright light later and Manic was promptly dropped on his but in front of the trio as the elder two siblings looked upon the rescuer, Sonic being surprised by who it was.

"Long time no see, Shadow."

**[Stop BGM]**

* * *

The locker room was filled with thick air that smelt like rusted metal. The room was dark save a single old, yellow light that rocked back and forth on the ceiling as the clinking of metal could be heard. A lone, red echidna sat on a wooden bench as he exercised with a one hundred pound curl in hand.

Knuckles was dressed in a black leather jacket (no shirt), ripped, black jeans, red, block-like sneakers and white gloves on his spiked hands. The echidna had numerous scars and a few piercings on his face and wore a displeased look. He was always like this at the robot arena.

The echidna was known to be as strong as Sonic was fast and Tails was smart, thus it was no surprise he chose a career as a robot fighter. The sixteen-year-old dropped the weight and stood as he heard his name being called for the next fight.

Walking towards the arena entrance, the hallway became dark and the sounds of screaming fans from the stands could be heard from miles around. The warrior walked slowly as a stereotypical announcer voice, sounding very similar to Sonic's, came over and began to introduce the fighter.

"Welcome ladies! Gentlemen! Mobians of all ages! To tonight's main event! On the left. weighing in at 120 pounds! Standing at three feet and seven inches! The Guardian of Truth! The Mercenary of Chaos! The Smasher of Machines! The Fighter of The Floating Island! The Current Robot Rumble Champion! The one! The only: Knuckles the Echidna!"

On cue the warrior walked out of the archway that was his entrance and waved at the people with one hand and his head down, causing the crowd to go into a rapid frenzy, 'Here we go again.' Knuckles thought as he stepped onto the hard dirt. The cold night air greeting him as the stadium lights almost blinded him.

The arena itself spanned the length of three football fields and had seats all around it. The place was known as The Automaton Coliseum. The building itself was made of a light grey stone making it look ancient, with an arena on the inside with dark dirt as the floor and filled with mechanical skeletons from decades past.

Located directly in the centre of the Neutral zone, it was famous for being one of the few actual neutral places in the territory, where people despite their nationality and alliance could come and see others beat the snot out of each other.

Snapping back to his thoughts, Knuckles could hear the sound of the announcer… announcing the entrance of his opponent.

"And on the right: Weighing in at one whole ton! Standing at twenty feet tall! The Bringer of Doom! The Destroyer of Droids! Give it up for Gollum!"

The arena shook as the monstrous machine stepped through its gigantic archway and the crowd booed the challenger. The machine looked like a train engine with arms, legs and a train, even having a black smokestack on its back. The metal was brown and various cogs were visible on its legs as it made it each lumbering step and various V shapes on its chest, knees and elbows.

Though it was slow, it was clearly powerful and very scary, even having chain guns on its wrists and a plethora of other weapons on its large chest plate.

Inside Gollum's brown head, which was a white sheet across the mouth darkening its features showing only glowing red eyes, sat a Mobian covered in thick cloths for dessert travel for clothing that hid his face as he sat inside the tightly spaced cockpit and bathed in the red light of the cockpit.

A microphone slowly lowered in the cockpit, allowing Gollum's pilot access to his own personal speaker system.

The speakers burst to life and the pilot began to yell in a deep wrestler voice, "Today is the day you die echidna! You may be the champ now, but by the end of today, you will be the chump! I will grind you into paste! I will turn you into dust! I will make you so ugly, your own mother would reject your very existence!"

"You mean like yours did with you at birth?" replied Knuckles with a voice that traveled throughout the stadium as he stood, arms crossed, and several remarks coming from the crowd as well as some stifled laughter.

Meanwhile, Gollum's pilot was furious as he clenched his teeth and crushed the microphone in his hand. He then grabbed the controls and readied for combat, the engine roaring to life and smoke billowing out of the vent on its back.

It was no wonder Knuckles was the only fighter without a machine for one would need incredible strength to combat beasts like that, but the echidna stood still and unfazed.

The announcer suddenly revealed himself, a circular hover car coming from a tower at the back of the stadium and two Mobians on it: A dark green, male hedgehog and a brown vixen with short hair.

The hedgehog was dressed in a black tuxedo and top hat while the vixen served as his personal bodyguard, yet wore rather revealing clothing in the form of a tight, black belly shirt, black skinny jeans and black platform shoes.

The vehicle stopped halfway in height and distance between the two as the hedgehog began to speak, his voice going only between the two, "Hi there gents, name's Scourge the Sinister, but just call me Scourge. And this is my friend Fiona Fox." The female gave a small wave, but Knuckles kept his eyes forward as Gollum's pilot gawked and the referee continued, "Now I want a clean fight. No hair pulling, no eye gouging and no bad impersonations of me. Other than that everything goes. Now shake hands and when I ring the bell try to kill one another. Got it?" The two nodded and Gollum bent down low and shook Knuckles' hands with two fingers.

When the floating vehicle had returned to the top of its perch Scourge shouted out, "Now let's get ready to robot rumble!"

**[BGM: Blitzkrieg by Audiomachine]**

The fight started with the sound of gunfire as the chain guns on Gollum's wrists opened fire with hundreds of fifteen millimetre bullets raining down on Knuckles. A large cloud of dust was thrown up the bullets hit the arena floor and none could see Knuckles.

"That's what you get for being cocky." Declared the pilot. He was surprised when he saw his opponent running out from the dust at great speed with his arms behind him. The pilot grew frustrated and continued firing a stream of bullets, but the echidna continued to outrun them.

Knuckles abruptly changed direction towards the mech and jumped, followed by him landing a punch on the robots leg that left a dent and shook the whole machine. Knuckles then caught some air under his dreads that allowed him to glide upwards.

Seeing the danger of taking a direct hit to a vital system, Gollum turned and smacked the echidna down, but Knuckles jumped right back up in time to avoid some more heavy fire. The warrior made a mad dash towards the arena wall with the bullets closely inching closer behind him.

When Knuckles reached the wall he unexpectedly ran up a bit of it and then used it as a springboard. Flying towards the machine, the echidna began to spin midair rapidly with his namesakes in front of him. The Corkscrew-Technique hit the machine head on and tore off the arm like it was made of paper, causing it to fall down with a loud thud.

"Looks like Gollum's been disarmed!" Scourge announced and snickered at his own lame joke as the fight continued.

The pilot was beyond frustrated now and felt a tiny bit of fear and decided to use a special weapon he had been saving for something more epic, but he was slightly desperate.

A sword was activated on Gollum's remaining arm and went towards the former guardian, but was abruptly stopped Knuckles' hands, inches away from slicing him clean in two. With a mighty heave Gollum was thrown back and stumbled slightly.

Gollum's driver pushed a button and its chest opened up to reveal a large canon that glowed red with heat.

Knuckles stood his ground in a fighting pose as he readied himself for whatever came out of the canon. Everyone was surprised when all that came out was a large amount of black smoke. Knuckles coughed badly as it cleared away, hearing the sound of two large springs and finding that his opponent had vanished.

His senses told him to look up and there he found that his opponent had somehow jumped several hundred feet in air and was now coming back down with its fist reared back. Reassuming his battle Knuckles met the punch, creating a gigantic crater where he stood and several shockwaves. The crater enlarged further as Knuckles grunted under the strain.

The sight was impossible to say the least: Knuckles had not only met the punch, but was now holding Gollum slightly above the ground by its arm with his fist and staying like that for a full ten seconds with only one arm!

Knuckles then grabbed the side of Gollum's fist and with a grunt, threw his opponent to the left and then ripped off that arm for good measure.

Seeing as he was no defenseless the pilot opened his hatch and waved a white flag as a sign of forfeit.

**[Stop BGM]**

Throwing the arm away like a piece of garbage Knuckles murmured, "Amateur." And walked away as the crowd chanted his name.

The warrior was stopped as Scourge's craft appeared before him and the green menace himself handed him a thick wad of currency as he smirked darkly, revealing his sharp canines, and said, "Ya know Knucks, I really think it would be a good idea to sign a permanent contract. That way you could earn some real cash."

Knuckles merely counted his money and walked around the craft as he said, "No more rigged fights for me. Not since what happened with the fox."

"Oh yeah him, haven't seen the little guy in a while. He was actually kinda cute before the fight." Fiona said tiredly as she leaned on some controls.

Knuckles badly wanted to turn around and punch that smirk he knew was on her face, but held his anger in and continued to trudge towards the locker rooms.

When the echidna entered the tunnel, he was greeted by a familiar voice, "My stars in heaven. Well hasn't Knucksie become a big boy?"

"I know. Last I saw him he was barely taller than Tails. But he sure had a growth spurt." Came another familiar voice, causing the confused, and slightly angered echidna to turn around and see three figures emerge from the darkness.

"Bunnie? Sally?...Tails?" The fox however did not look as happy as the other two and kept his head towards the exit. Knuckles turned around as he heard the French accented voice of a certain coyote coming from near the locker rooms.

"Be of the excusing me your highness, but we should be of the going for I am fearing the chance of us being found out, for I believe, they will not be of the kindly taking of intruders."

"Who's that?" Asked the echidna, pointing his thumb and barely understanding what the bodyguard said.

"No time Knuckles. If Scourge finds us there will be big trouble and well probably be captured or worse. Listen: I have a very important mission that will decide the fate of Mobius. It's extremely dangerous and there's no guarantee that my plan will work. Also, we can't pay you like Scourge can and he'll probably try and hunt you down to get you back. But we really…"

Knuckles raised his hand to stop her, "Do I get to hit people?"

"There'll be more baddies on the trip than there is ego in Scourge."

The warrior bumped his fists together and smirked, "Then what are we waiting here for then?" The smirk dropped when he realised something, "Hey, where's Jasper? I thought he'd be on a high priority mission like this."

Before the others could even cringe Tails took off down the halls faster than anyone could ever have guessed, tears in his eyes. Knuckles scratched the back of his head in confusion as the others sulked, "Did I say something."

"Bunnie, Antoine, get Knuckles away from the stadium. Tails and I will be there shortly." Ordered the queen and then she took off after the disheartened fox.

The kitsune ran ahead not caring where he went. The halls continued to get darker and more complex, but Tails didn't care that he was lost, he just wanted to get away from everything and everyone. The kit had no idea why his adoptive aunts had brought him along for this mission, but he was certain it was just a ruse to make him feel better. Well, it wasn't going to work.

Something unexpected happened as Tails brushed passed a tall man in a green suit and bowler hat with a golden cane in hand. That was all he could make out in the dark.

The man merely continued his walk and said, "Excuse me."

Tails was about to continue his run when he realised something: that man was a human! The only known humans still alive were May and Robotnik. A third could be major trouble. But when the fox turned around the man was gone and he only saw his Aunt Sally coming towards him.

The fox made no move as she tackled him with a hug and cried, "Don't ever do that again Tails! I was scared we'd lose you forever!"

"Why does no one care Aunt Sally? Why is everyone acting so happy?" The fox replied with his head turned away. That was when the chipmunk knew why he was so upset.

"We are still upset Tails. We all are. But do you think Jasper would've wanted everyone to be so sad over him?"

"N… no."

"Exactly. And I also know you're upset about Knuckles. But I promise you. He's changed. He regrets what's happened and would defend you to the death to say sorry."

"Isn't that cute? Knucksie really does have a heart huh?" Said a feminine voice both Sally and Tails knew well.

Fiona Fox stepped out of the shadows (that had been happening a lot that day) and stood with a hand on her hip and looked at her nails, bored, as she spoke, "And here I thought after what happened the little guy here would be wanting a rematch.

A soft growling could be heard and Sally turned to see her nephew with his canines revealed and his claws out, seconds away from going feral on the vixen. Yet Fiona continued as if it were no big deal, even though she knew very well what an angry Tails could accomplish.

"Relax kid I'm just teasing. And tell Knuckles he doesn't need to worry about us following him. We… received some money recently. Oh yeah. And give the knucklehead this when you see him." Fiona turned around and tossed them an envelope exactly like the one Tails had earlier received.

When they looked back up, she was gone.

* * *

**A/N: Wow! This was a long one! But I hope that made up for the wait! Please leave a review!**


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